EXPEDITING TECHNOLOGY-TRANSFER WITH MULTIMEDIA

Sociopolitical realities and changes in the economic structure demand that new products and processes be brought to the market place that will create new demands and hence generate well-paying jobs. Fortunately it is not necessary to rely entirely on new research and development (R&D) because a wide variety of prototypes have been developed in our National Laboratories. Thus, the later could be spawning grounds for a wide variety of commercialization initiatives. Unfortunately, this is not occurring with sufficient alacrity because the existing technology transfer apparatus suffers from communications lethargy. As a corollary our National Laboratories are in jeopardy of atrophying because their defense functions are being reduced. They were built at great costs, sophisticated facilities were created and cadres of renowned researchers were nurtured. They should be preserved for a variety of reasons. In this article we describe how recent information technologies commonly called multimedia and virtual reality could be applied to expedite the technology transfer from the National Laboratories to the commercial sector. We first review major characteristics of technology transfer. Then we comment on why traditional approaches are unlikely to be successful. Finally, we propose a technological approach that can be put in place with minimum cost and effort because the basic components and techniques already exist.