Department of Energy launches the new Visual Intellectual Property Search database
It contains information on thousands of patents issued for research conducted by DOE scientists and engineers, as well as more than 6,200 available software packages.
Looking to license technologies from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)? If so, your job of finding just the right invention might have gotten a little easier.
DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) has created the Visual Intellectual Property Search database, known as VIPS, to make it easier to perform intellectual property searches and find new technologies developed at DOE’s 17 national laboratories and several additional DOE plants and sites. The database contains information on thousands of patents issued for research conducted by DOE scientists and engineers, as well as more than 6,200 available software packages.
The system is designed to increase the real-world impact of thousands of research projects undertaken by DOE employees and its contractors. Nearly all of the research featured in VIPS is available for licensing or open-source use.
“VIPS bridges the gap between groundbreaking research and practical application, allowing for faster and more efficient commercialization of technologies developed at our National Laboratories, plants, and sites,” said Victor Kane, OTT Deputy Director of Commercialization Programs. “We’re grateful to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for delivering this resource and making decades of DOE research accessible to innovators who can turn these discoveries into real-world solutions.”
The database, officially launched July 31, draws primarily on two sources: patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and DOE CODE, a repository of software maintained by the U.S. Office of Scientific and Technical Information. VIPS draws on those sources to make updates each week.
VIPS comes with robust search and filtering features for users searching for technologies to advance in the marketplace. One can search a broad area, such as “energy” or “sensors.” Or a more specific search can be conducted—within “energy,” for example, “energy storage” and then “hydrogen energy storage” or “thermal energy storage.” A search on thermal energy storage, for example, currently pulls up 152 patents and seven software packages—numbers that will climb as more intellectual property is entered into VIPS. Ultimately the system breaks down DOE technologies into about 800 categories.
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