1. Technology Transfer Principles and Practice
Santiago Navarro (OST-R) and Alex Epstein, Ph.D. (Volpe Center)
AASHTO RAC Annual Meeting
July 26, 2016
U.S. Department of Transportation
Office of Research and Technology
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

2. Technology Transfer Principles
Understand adopter needs
Understand the technology
Address barriers to adoption
Communicate value

3. Technology Transfer Principles

4. Technology Transfer Practice
Truck Side Guards for Safety and Fuel Savings
The Technology and the T2 Experience

5. Understand adopter needs
There are two types of adopter needs.
Functional – Reduce fatal crashes, reduce liability, improve public image
Decisional – Funding or mandate to invest in side guards, convincing management/officials, labor buy-in, availability of U.S. suppliers

6. Understand the technology
Front
Rear
Volpe researched existing international standards, added its own research, and developed a consistent best practice set of minimum specifications and performance requirements for U.S. side guards that anyone can manufacture and install.

7. Understand the technology
Washington, DC
San Francisco
Volpe also rolled up its sleeves and worked directly with major U.S. cities on implementing the technology. At the beginning it was truck by truck. There are many different ways that our partner cities and private truck fleets have adapted and adopted the Volpe specification to their own needs. Since it’s not a regulation (like an FMVSS), there is flexibility in how to install this safety technology for minimal impact on O&M and innovating the design.
Know where to draw the line and allow exemptions or a bit of slack for some vehicle types.
Portland, OR
Boston, MA
Cambridge, MA
New York City

8. Addressing barriers to adoption
Barriers to adoption have included:
Liability aversion due to lack of a regulatory standard in U.S. But the Volpe specification and technical report does provide a national voluntary standard.
Implicitly admitting that there existed a safety issue AND a known solution. Once you upgrade safety of one truck, and people ask why you didn’t do them all, or why you didn’t do it sooner.
For more exotic vehicles, O&M
Deployed
Deployment TBD
Deployed separately

9. Communicate value Sideguards Sideskirts
Decrease bike/ped fatalities & serious injuries
Road spray suppression
Environmental & fuel savings at higher speeds
Decrease bike/ped fatalities and serious injuries
Environmental & fuel savings at higher speeds
We’ve used many ways to communicate value to the adopter.
Easy-to-use website with all side guard resources
Infographics, two-pager, YouTube video, and full technical reports
Met with city fleet managers (NYC, Boston, SF)
Presented at IIHS, TRB, FLC and other conferences together with early adopters
Trucking industry magazine pieces (with early adopters)
Targeted outreach to potential municipality and state adopters
Free consultations with interested MPOs, private truck fleets, and large logistics customers such as hospitals
Sideguards
Sideskirts

10. Communicate value
Let’s take a look at how we communicate the safety value specifically.

11. Questions? Alexander Epstein Santiago Navarro
Santiago Navarro