National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act

The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act was signed into law March 7, 1996. The Act amended several existing acts and mandated new directions for federal agencies with the purpose of:

bringing technology and industrial innovation to market more quickly
encouraging cooperative research and development between business and the federal government by providing access to federal laboratories
making it easier for businesses to obtain exclusive licenses to technology and inventions that result from cooperative research with the federal government

The Act made a direct impact on the development of new industrial and technology standards by requiring that all Federal agencies use cooperatively developed standards, particularly those developed by standards developing organizations.