A -- AN ELECTRONIC EQUIVALENT OF A PAPER RESEARCH NOTEBOOK

Notice Date

July 6, 2001

Contracting Office

UT-Battelle, Office of Technology Transfer, 111B Union Valley Road, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6499

ZIP Code

37831-6499

Solicitation Number

NONE

Response Due

July 18, 2001

Point of Contact

Margaret Spurlin (865) 576-5272

E-Mail Address

Point of Contact, Margaret Spurlin, commercialization (spurlinms@ornl.gov)

Description

UT-Battelle, LLC (UT-Battelle), the management and operating contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is seeking expressions of interest from companies for collaborative research, licensing, and commercialization of ORNL's intellectual property in the technology area of an electronic equivalent to a paper notebook. Paper notebooks are ubiquitous in the scientific community. Researchers keep personal notebooks to record their ideas, meetings, and experiments. The contents of these notebooks is usually kept private unless needed to prove when an idea was first recorded. Notebooks are kept on all major scientific instruments as well. These notebooks are shared by all the researchers that use the instrument and serve as documentation of the instrument's status and use. Instead of recording information on paper, the sketches, text, equations, images, graphs, signatures, and other data are recorded on electronic notebook "pages", which can be read and navigated just like in a paper notebook. Instead of writing with a pen and taping in images and graphs, reading and adding to an electronic notebook is done through a computer and can involve input from keyboard, sketchpads, mouse, image files, microphone, and directly from scientific instruments. Electronic notebook software varies in how much it "looks and feels" like a paper notebook, but all the basic functions of a paper notebook are present. In addition, electronic notebooks allow easier input of scientific data and the ability for collaborators in different geographic locations to share the record of ideas, data and events of the joint experiments and research programs. The electronic notebook is being recognized as an important tool that needs to be developed in order for scientists and engineers to do remote experimentation and collaboration. When a scientist can login remotely and control an instrument there needs to be the equivalent of the "paper notebook sitting beside the instrument" into which the scientist can record his/her use of the instrument. The notebook can also be used to check the previous and future usage schedule for the instrument. The technology transfer process will be facilitated through appropriate licensing of UT-Battelle's intellectual property and associated research and development undertaken cooperatively between UT-Battelle and the licensee. Research and development will focus on transitioning the technology from the current stage to commercialization. Interested companies with experience and expertise commensurate with the requirements of this commercialization effort are invited to respond to this announcement. Companies interested in this opportunity may obtain more detailed technical information and a description of the licensing and cooperative research and development process by submitting a statement of interest, including a written description of their company and its activities and an explanation of their potential application of the technology. One-page expression of interest should be received by July 20, 2001. It is anticipated that a formal request for proposals will be available by July 27, 2001. No licensing intermediaries please. This is not a procurement activity.

Web Link

Electronic Notebook V1.10 Home Page (http://www.csm.ornl.gov/~geist/java/applets/enote/)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010710/ASOL007.HTM (W-187 SN50R0T9)