Commercialization of New Materials for a Global Economy (1993)

The importance of materials as an enabling technology has been increasingly acknowledged during the past several decades. For instance, advances in materials have contributed to the success of advanced technological systems such as spacecraft, jet engines, computers, and telecommunications. New materials have also contributed to familiar consumer applications that range from automobiles to refrigerators to tennis racquets and fishing rods.

The United States has been most successful in the laboratory invention of new technologies including materials, but it has not always been as successful as other industrialized nations in the commercialization of such technologies. This study had its origin in the concern of the Department of Defense (DOD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that advanced materials are not being commercialized fast enough to build more-capable advanced systems at lower life-cycle cost. In addition, it was recognized that rapid commercial introduction of new materials and their incorporation into products would enhance the global competitiveness of the United States (FCCSET, 1992).

The members of the National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB) and invited guests held a workshop to examine the barriers to commercialization of materials. The factors that were judged to affect commercialization were analyzed and synthesized. They were divided into three groups: technical, regulatory/legal, and economic. The members of the NMAB then developed a series of broad strategies that addressed the primary barriers to commercialization. These strategies are grouped below by lead organization.

• The commercialization process would benefit from timely, wide dissemination of materials research and development (R&D) information. The federal government could establish a clearinghouse activity, containing relevant aspects of all federally funded materials programs that span the range from basic research through pilot production, to serve as a single source of readily available information. The information would describe the materials being developed and commercialized under federal sponsorship, funding levels, milestones, and so on. Such a data base would allow better coordination among all federally funded materials efforts, resulting in reinforcing, comprehensive efforts. For example, it would facilitate the identification of program gaps and overlap areas. Industry and academia would have access to the “big picture ” and thus be able to anticipate when materials of interest would be available for use. In addition, industry could be asked to assess the commercialization potential of specific development efforts, taken as a whole; appropriate changes could then be made early enough to ensure that commercialization would not be delayed due to an oversight.

• Future commercial applications of advanced materials will almost always include potential markets beyond initial government applications. These applications are very important, because they add to the commercial potential of new materials. To provide as broad an application window as possible, the government materials R&D program could incorporate along with the known government requirements, or otherwise address, the key material needs for leading commercial applications. Appropriate mechanisms to discover and assess these needs would have to be established as well.

• Export control regulations can limit the use of advanced materials technology, often without apparent meaningful purpose. Current regulations can unnecessarily interfere with the interactions between U.S. firms and their foreign partners. This restricts the broadening of the U.S. technical base and limits U.S. firms' access to

overseas markets. A study by the National Research Council Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy recommended that the basis of technology transfer restrictions be changed from a policy of general denial of dual-use items to a policy of presumed approval for export, based on verified end-use of the product (COSEPUP, 1991). This recommendation could be used as a framework to address the necessary changes to the export control regulations.

• Economic and legal barriers to, as well as financial incentives for, the commercialization of materials are continually undergoing change. For instance, tax incentives, government procurement policies, and intellectual property-protection clauses are the subject of numerous legislative actions and judicial decisions within the course of a year. These areas could be examined in detail by appropriate experts to determine what changes could prudently be made to assist in accelerating the commercialization process.

• Focused, cooperative, cost-shared efforts can speed the commercialization of materials through such activities as precompetitive R&D, demonstration of process reproducibility, application development, development of design data bases, and joint-use capital facilities. Industry could establish consortia that include materials suppliers, part fabricators, and end users. As appropriate, the expertise and unique facilities of the federal laboratories can be integrated into such consortia.

• Materials suppliers typically provide their products to makers of semi-finished products, such as forging and casting houses. This tends to decouple material companies from their ultimate customers: the end users. Direct links between the materials suppliers and the end users would provide the materials industry with first-hand knowledge of user needs, and the users with first-hand appreciation

of capabilities within the materials industry. An informal interactive forum, implemented on an individual basis and an industry-wide basis, could allow the necessary interchange of information and improve market pull and product focus for materials producers. Existing mechanisms already in place at various trade associations can facilitate these interactions. Use of video conferencing electronic communications would further reduce the cost of maintaining the forum.

• Revolutionary new materials generally can fulfill their complete potential only if new design methods are applied to new products. The consequence is that advanced materials often wait “on the shelf ” until new markets develop. However, the insertion of improved materials to incrementally improve existing products can be an attractive way to use an existing market to build demand for an advanced material, even though it may not exploit the material to its fullest capability. This product improvement strategy requires an updating of product design approaches to reflect the unique aspects of the new material. Consideration must also be given to any environmental and use changes that the product might experience as a result of added capability.

• The education of engineering students includes instruction on design methods for specific applications and on the selection of materials based on properties that can be affected by processing history. Introducing advanced materials into the educational process requires associated instruction on revised, or entirely new, design approaches and methods to allow full exploitation of the featured properties, avoidance of failure modes, and so on. A partnership of university, industry, and government could be used to develop realistic ways to encourage and support these necessary changes within the

educational system. For example, the “practice school” model could be extended to include materials processing and manufacturing education.

• Advanced materials technology often eclipses the experience and knowledge base of practicing design engineers and manufacturing engineers. Continuing education programs for experienced practitioners could be an effective mechanism for bringing them up to date, providing a necessary knowledge base and expert tutelage. As a result, experienced professionals would be able to re-synthesize their conventional designs in line with useful new paradigms.

• Technical personnel without degrees perform many crucial tasks throughout engineering and manufacturing. Their experience base is derived largely from learning successful procedures. Thus, practice-oriented training programs in areas involving advanced materials could extend their experience base. This approach could significantly reduce the number of problems associated with the introduction of new materials. Such a strategy might take advantage of programs offered by various technical societies.

• Development of materials standards, including international standards, is an essential aspect of building the infrastructure needed to support the commercialization of advanced materials. A federal agency, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, could establish a forum to develop the standards through timely, active participation by industry and other interested parties.

• Greater standardization of design-related, materials-property data bases is necessary to facilitate the widespread application of new materials and thus increase the size and number of potential markets. The materials industry could lead this effort, with

wide participation by government, universities, and professional societies.