Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 405 Annual Report 2016 5 Intellectual Property The Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio for INL includes invention disclosure records, patent applications, issued patents and copyright assertions. INL ’s IP portfolio provides a basis for collaboration with commercial enterprises, academia and other parties, both domestic and international.The extent of INL ’s science, engineering, and technical IP portfolios provide the opportunity for the laboratory to deploy its creative, meaningful research. Technology Deployment (TD) works closely with INL management and researchers to identify and pursue opportunities for technology commercialization and business development. In 2016, INL inventors submitted to Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA) 53 invention disclosure records (IDR) and 15 software disclosures (SDR) (Figure 1).These include seven IDRs and seven SDRs from Nuclear Science andTechnology (NST), 34 IDRs and three SDRs from Energy and Environment Science andTechnology (EEST), 12 IDRs and 1 SDR from National and Homeland Security (NHS), and four SDRs contributed by inventors supporting other mission work. Thirty U.S. patents were issued to either INL or the DOE based on the inventions of INL scientists and researchers (Figure 2). These issued U.S. patents included three from NHS, 24 from EEST, and three from NST. In addition, 23 new patent applications for INL inventions were filed, with seven from NHS and 16 from EEST. Since the commencement of BEA’s contract to manage INL, laboratory researchers have generated 939 IDRs. These IDRs have led to more than 472 U.S. patent applications and have resulted in excess of 450 issued U.S. patents. BEA has IP rights under its contract with DOE and can elect to retain title to inventions and seek patent protection, subject to some exceptions. The decision of whether or not to seek patent protection is based on market and technical assessments of the technology and its subsequent programmatic value. Market assessments are performed and a recommendation is presented to a committee composed of department or project managers, assistant laboratory director or designee, market analysts, commercialization managers, and patent attorneys. These recommendations are presented to the committee and then a final decision is made to elect or decline the technology for patent protection by TD’s director. Generally, if the invention is judged as commercially valuable, crucial to a primary mission, or valuable in terms of motivating further research funding, it is elected. If BEA decides to decline title, DOE chooses whether to seek patent protection in its own name. If DOE decides not to seek patent protection, the inventor(s) may petition to have the title assigned to them by DOE with the expectation that they will pursue patent protection using their own resources. 150 120 90 60 30 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 IDR SDR 50 40 30 20 10 0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Figure 1. Invention disclosure records completed FY 2011–2016. Figure 2. U.S. patents issued FY 2011–2016.