FLC Chair
Paul Zielinski - National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
FLC Vice Chair
Mark Reeves - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
FLC Board Members at Large
J. Scott Deiter - Naval Surface Warfare Center - Indian Head Division Cathy Cohn - USDA - Agricultural Research Service Tom Stackhouse - National Cancer Institute and the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

Joint Far West / Mid-Continent Regional Meeting Sept 4 - 6, 2012
The 2012 joint meeting of the FLC Mid-Continent and Far West Regions took place September 4 - 6, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, on the River Walk in San Antonio TX. In spite of the new travel and conference limitations, the event was hailed as a success by the over 70 attendees.

Our Regional Awards program is a very important component of our regional work and for 2012 we made 13 awards.

The award categories for 2012 were:

• Outstanding Technology Development - Given to a laboratory and staff for a promising technology development to: solve problems; satisfy markets and consumers; create patents and awards; or any area related to the above. The technology does not have to be transferred to be eligible for nomination.
• Outstanding Partnership - Can be any entity that has been germane in a successful partnership working with federal laboratories and technology transfer in the region. Examples can be universities, state/local economic development organizations, SBDCs, and partnership intermediaries.
• Outstanding Commercialization Success - A technology transfer success story that has resulted in the commercialization of a laboratory technology. This includes licensing agreements and other mechanisms that have help to bring a laboratory technology to market and help create jobs and stimulate the economy.
• Laboratory Representative of the Year - Given to an FLC Laboratory Representative or Alternate for significant contributions to technology transfer, outreach to communities, and/or outreach and assistance to other laboratory representatives.
• Technology Transfer Professional of the Year - [Category introduced in 2011] Given to a Technology Transfer Professional at a FLC Laboratory for significant contributions to technology transfer. This includes licensing, cooperative research and development agreements and partnership generation.

The agenda, presentions and awards program are now available on the conference web site at www.flcmidcontinent.org/meeting



Southern California Universities Unite to Produce Cleantech Businesses
The University of Southern California announced today that a partnership led by Caltech, UCLA and USC have been selected to receive a $360,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a national business plan competition for young cleantech entrepreneurs. The winning proposal is one of six awarded regionally as part of a three-year, $2 million program, funded by the DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to develop competitions that inspire students to come up with innovative business plans involving clean-energy technology.

Called First Look West (FLoW), the partnership will also include Chapman University, the Rady School of Management at UC San Diego, energy company OnGreen, Inc, and student leaders from campus groups, such as eClubs, Net Impact, Engineers for a Sustainable World and NOBE, the National Organization of Business and Engineering. FLoW builds on First Look LA, a program organized by Caltech, USC, and UCLA that showcases research and innovation to investors and has been successfully nurturing academic entrepreneurship in Southern California for five years. As in First Look LA, the host of the competition will rotate annually among each partner, and this feature, among others, provides the maximum reach among faculty, researchers and students. To help students learn about the entrepreneurial process FLoW will engage the student groups in all aspects of the business plan competition, from creating, managing and participating in the competition to potentially screening and assessing future opportunities. FLoW will oversee the competition's Western Region comprising seven states and two Pacific territories: California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Idaho, American Samoa and Guam.

The regional contests will be completed by May 1, 2012. Regional winners, selected by a panel of judges, will each receive $100,000 from the DOE and a chance to compete for a National Grand Prize in the final competition held at the DOE in Washington, D.C. in early summer 2012.

The competition is part of Startup America, the Obama Administration's campaign to inspire and promote entrepreneurship. The purpose of this national initiative is to provide student participants with the skills needed to start new businesses, and transform promising energy technologies into innovative energy products that will create jobs, boost American competitiveness, and strengthen the economy.