“Thousands of the treasures developed by scientists working for the Department of Energy—ideas, methods and software created to address some of the world’s biggest challenges—are now available in one place for entrepreneurs, researchers and others interested in learning more and developing them for commercialization.  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 OTT Deputy Director of Commercialization Programs Victor Kane. “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.”