- Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer
- Harry Diamond Memorial Award
- R&D 100 Award
- Service to America Medal
- U.S. Space Foundation Space Technology Hall of Fame
Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer
Recognizes laboratory employees who have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring a technology developed by a federal laboratory. CRITERIA:
- Duplicate nominations—whether individual or group—are not allowed.
- The nominated team or individual must not have received an FLC award for Excellence in Technology Transfer within the last three years
- Awards are specifically for transferring technology—not research effort.
- Awards are judged on: (a) Practical commercial or public advancement made by the efforts of the nominees; (b) The technology transfer effort by the nominee beyond normal job scope; (c) The degree and significance of tangible benefits to industry or state/local governments
- No propriety information can be contained in the nomination
- Technology must be described in layman’s language
- The FLC may use the entire submission as a resource document and for media purposes
AWARD: Leading innovators receive a commemorative medallion and certificate in recognition of their achievement and will be honored at a special ceremony.
NOMINATIONS DUE: 2024 Nominations Closed
Harry Diamond Memorial Award
Recognizes distinguished technical contributions in the field of electrotechnology while in U.S. government service. It was established in 1949 in memory of Mr. Harry Diamond, whose professional life exemplified the highest type of engineering and scientific development effort in Federal service. CRITERIA: Nomination needs to be documented in reports which were prepared under sponsorships by the U.S. federal and/or state governments (sponsorships includes: contracts from collaborations, cooperative R&D agreements (CRADAs) with government or government-owned entity; work within companies supported by government funds; or internally sponsored work within the government organizations). Nominations should be based on developments sponsored by the federal or state government within 10 years of the nomination closing date. Nominations must be submitted by an IEEE member. Endorsements are required by senior management person from the initial research/development origination, and a senior management person from the organization that successfully applied the technology. Endorsements from an IEEE technical society leader is highly desirable, but not a requirement.
AWARD: Honorary
NOMINATIONS DUE: 2024 Nominations Closed
R&D 100 Award
Recognizes the 100 most technologically significant new products of the year and their inventors. CRITERIA: Any new technical product that was first available for purchase or licensing between January 1st and December 31st of the year of nomination. Physical existence of the product must be shown in a photograph or actual sample. Products and processes that can change people’s lives for the better, improve the standard of living for large numbers of people, save lives, promote good health, clean up the environment, etc. Moreover, these improvements must be attributed to significant breakthroughs in technology. In general, this means your product should exhibit multiple levels of improvement–53 times faster, 103 greater throughput, 503 times more accurate–or, preferably, orders of magnitude improvement over existing technology. Again, we’re looking for “leapfrog” gains in performance, not expected, incremental improvements. Products requiring regulatory approval, such as that from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, generally should not be entered until all trials are completed and final approval is granted. The exception would be a medical device or drug that has been licensed or used outside the United States, or in a nonregulated application (such as for veterinary purposes). If your product doesn’t win, you can, under certain conditions, resubmit it another year – provided there has been a major change related to your product. Winning products will be selected on the basis of their importance, uniqueness, and usefulness by a panel of technical experts.
AWARD: Reports of winners will be published in the September issue of R&D Magazine.
The Service to America Medals
The Partnership for Public Service bestows its Service to America Medals to recognize the accomplishments of America’s public servants. The awards pay tribute to America’s dedicated federal workforce, highlighting those who have made significant contributions to our country. Honorees are chosen based on their commitment and innovation as well as the impact of their work on addressing the needs of the nation. Medals are bestowed in nine categories:
- Federal Employee of the Year
- Career Achievement
- Call to Service
- Homeland Security
- International Affairs
- Justice and Law Enforcement
- National Security
- Science and Environment
- Citizen Services
CRITERIA: Open to all career civilian federal employees of the Executive Branch of the United States Government, similar employees of the Library of Congress, Government Accountability Office, Office of the Capitol Architect, Government Printing Office, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Smithsonian Institution and Botanical Gardens, plus commissioned officers of the U.S. Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Former federal employees who separated from government service after September 28 of the preceding year may also be nominated. All medal categories will be open to both individual and team nominations. Team nominations must be submitted under one person identified as the “team lead.” Team members may be listed within the essay portion of the nomination. For all award categories, the nominee must have shown a strong commitment to public service as a federal civil servant and demonstrated significant accomplishments within his or her particular government field. Award-specific criteria available on the govexec.com Web site (see nomination link below)
AWARD: Finalists are announced in June. Award recipient announced in September.
NOMINATIONS DUE: January 12, 2024 + Nomination information (link opens new browser window)
U.S Space Foundation Space Technology Hall of Fame
Honors the innovators who have significantly impacted American industry and society through the technology originally developed for space use into commercial products. CRITERIA: Each organization may nominate up to 3 aerospace spin-off technologies. Renomination of previously nominated technologies is permitted. One page write-up descriptive of the space an spin-off development. Selection criteria include economic benefit, public/private/partnership/investment, public awareness factor, societal benefit factor, application diversity, and longevity.
AWARD: Induction into the Space Technology Hall of Fame during a special ceremony at the United States Foundation’s National Space Symposium, the premier annual gathering of space policy leaders. Leading innovators receive a commemorative medallion in recognition of their achievement.