FORT DETRICK, Md. – For 25 years, the Office of Medical Technology Transfer has worked with inventors, businesses and investors to commercialize and deliver dozens of innovative life-saving devices and medicines for the Warfighter and the public. The heart of MTT’s success is an award-winning process for systematically maturing and de-risking first-generation biomedical technologies called Assistive Technology Transfer, or AT2. For his contributions to developing and implementing AT2, Barry Datlof, MTT’s chief of business development and commercialization, recently received the 2024 Department of Defense George F. Linsteadt Technology Transfer Achievement Award from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

Datlof accepted the award on behalf of the MTT team at an award ceremony on Jan. 30. The annual award recognizes DOD employees who have found innovative ways to accelerate the transfer of technologies developed within the DOD for commercial use in military and civilian applications. Earlier this year, the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology recognized the MTT team’s AT2 program with a 2024 Technology Transfer Innovation Award.

During the award ceremony, Stephen Luckowski, director of the Technology Transfer Transition and Commercial Partnership Office in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Technology, cited the MTT team for its accomplishments, noting that the MRDC Technology Transfer Office has generated over $20 million in revenue and $40 million in Cooperative Research and Development Agreements.

“I know excellence when I see it,” said Luckowski. “You support the Warfighter’s mission in many ways. What is better than sending a Soldier home to their families? You provide the technologies for that, and you provide the motivation for that.”

More than 30 biomedical technologies have been successfully licensed using AT2, generating over $26 million in royalty income that MTT has used to reward inventors and invest back into the AT2 program to help move other new inventions through the development cycle, creating what MTT calls a feedback loop of success. AT2 connects inventors with expert assistance at each stage of development, helping to access funding sources, meet experts who can answer questions about regulatory and licensing requirements, obtain resources for developing and testing prototypes and assist with military and civilian sales and licensing, among other support. This helps ensure that the new technologies will be mature and ready for manufacture, increasing the likelihood that they will be licensed and available to the DOD for purchase.

“Assistive Technology Transfer is a culmination of the recognition that it takes more than patents and licensing to field an actual product,” says Datlof, who coined the term a decade ago. “We have many assets in MRDC that enable us to create well-formed product portfolios that are attractive to potential licensors. For example, through our Office of Regulated Activities we can work with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct clinical trials. We have access to extensive research and development facilities such as laboratories and additive manufacturing for prototype development. We can put devices into the hands of Warfighters and medics to test them in real-world conditions. And we have access to multiple sources of funding to pay for these activities. All of this represents millions of dollars and countless hours of work that a licensee does not have to invest on their own.”

Another unique asset that MTT brings to technology transfer is its team of experts, complementing the traditional entrepreneurship of tech transfer with what Datlof calls “intra-preneurship.”

“We collect a team of people with great backgrounds who are willing to ask, ‘What if?’” says Datlof. “Everyone has two, if not three, areas of expertise. Risk-taking is part of the equation we look for, as well as creativity. There are few schools focused on tech transfer. Almost everyone in MTT received cross-training from the ‘university of the street.’”

Datlof’s own background exemplifies this diversity. A self-described “wannabe developmental biologist,” he launched the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s technology transfer office in the 1980s and later did the same for the American Red Cross. He joined the then-Medical Research and Materiel Command’s technology transfer office because he wanted to work for its founder, Dr. Paul C. Mele. In the mid-90s, Mele, a former research scientist with the Philip Morris Company, had testified before the House Committee on Health and the Environment about the efforts by his former employer to suppress research into the addictive properties of nicotine.

“That’s the kind of moral person I enjoy working with,” says Datlof. “I think it’s really important for most people who work in tech transfer, too. Purpose matters.”

Because of the MTT’s collaborative approach, Datlof sees the Linsteadt Award as recognizing the accomplishments of the entire team.

“Our team is really the award winner because no single person in our group knows every stage, every nuance of the process,” says Datlof. “It’s a true team effort. None of us are flying solo, myself included.”

As MRDC’s Office of Medical Technology Transfer embarks on its next 25 years, Datlof has plenty of ideas for what the future may holds. He is proposing the establishment of a DOD-wide “angel fund” to speed the adoption of AT2 at smaller and newer tech transfer offices. The team is also investigating ways to leverage digital marketplace technologies to accelerate technology transfer through an online storefront similar to the Space Force’s new commercial acquisition portal. Datlof would also like to see DHA expand its international patent portfolio to stimulate risk capital investment and increase licensee income streams from multiple countries.

“This is, thankfully, something that I’m addicted to, as are my colleagues,” says Datlof. “None of us want to leave because the gratification level from seeing that you’ve helped save somebody’s life is immense. What’s not to love about coming to work to do that?”