ROME, NY — The Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) has approved another 5-year Partnership Intermediary Agreement with the Griffiss Institute, an independent not-for-profit located at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park, in Rome, NY. The value of the new contract has a ceiling of $99.5 million over the 5-year period.
A Partnership Intermediary, a unique Congressional authority, allows a qualified not-for-profit organization to provide services that promote the transfer, or exchange, of technology with state and local governments, academia, and industry, into and out of, government research facilities.
Some successful examples of technology transfer services that the Griffiss Institute currently performs for AFRL/RI are:
- Workforce and Economic Development with the AFRL Commercialization Academy, in conjunction with our New York State program IDEA NY, using AFRL-developed intellectual property to create sustainable Mohawk Valley startup businesses;
- Encouraging interest in the sciences and math with yearly STEM Summer Camps for students in grades 5th-12th;
- Promoting the involvement of academic institutions in AFRL’s programs by managing the Information Institute, a virtual, collaborative research environment which brings in a legion of professors and students, foreign and domestic, for basic research during the Summer months;
- Oversight of an extensive nationwide Internship Program, to encourage a future growth of the technical workforce, both nationally and within Central New York.
Griffiss Institute’s President, William Wolf, points to a productive future for the Griffiss Institutes partnership with the creation of a new, expanded Open Innovation Environment. It will support AFRL’s Quantum research environment, provide an entire floor devoted to an open, collaborative environment to encourage productive partnerships with academia, industry, and other technical organizations and customers encouraging them to work together in solving the nation’s toughest technological challenges.
