AFRL renews partnership agreement with Griffiss Institute for another five years

ROME — The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate recently approved another five-year partnership intermediary agreement with the Griffiss Institute, an independent nonprofit located at the Griffiss Business and Technology Park, in Rome. 

The value of the new contract has a ceiling of $99.5 million over the 60-month period, according to the Griffiss Institute.

A partnership intermediary, authorized by Congress, allows a qualified not-for-profit organization to provide services that promote the transfer, or exchange, of technology with state and local governments, academia, and industry, into and out of, government research facilities, Griffiss Institute explained in a news release.

Some successful examples of technology transfer services that the Griffiss Institute says it currently performs for the AFRL Information Directorate include:

• Workforce and economic development with the AFRL Commercialization Academy, in conjunction with our New York State program IDEA NY, using AFRL-developed intellectual property to create sustainable Mohawk Valley startup businesses;

• Encouraging interest in the sciences and math with yearly STEM summer camps for students in grades 5th to 12th;

• Promoting the involvement of academic institutions in AFRL’s programs by managing the Information Institute, a virtual, collaborative research environment that brings in many professors and students, foreign and domestic, for basic research during the summer months; 

• Oversight of an extensive nationwide internship program, to encourage future growth of the technical workforce, both nationally and in Central New York. 

Griffiss Institute’s President, William Wolf, says he sees a “productive future” for the Griffiss Institute’s partnership with the creation of a new, expanded open innovation environment. “It will support AFRL’s quantum research environment, provide an entire floor devoted to an open, collaborative environment to encourage productive partnerships with academia, industry, and other technical organizations and customers encouraging them to work together in solving the nation’s toughest technological challenges,” he said in the release.

Started in 2002 by New York State, the Griffiss Institute is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit governed by a board of directors. It partners with AFRL, private industry, and academia, to facilitate and grow the technology base of upstate New York.