FLC Unveils a Hospital Tour to Showcase Federal Innovation

Released: December 18, 2023

(WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 18, 2023) From life-saving medicines to critical safety gear, hospitals are full of technologies that were invented in federal labs, thanks to taxpayer-funded research. To highlight these technologies, the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) today launched an interactive virtual hospital that showcases these innovations. Visitors can explore the hospital room by room to discover reusable N95 masks from Sandia National Laboratories, a fever detection system developed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, MRI technology from Fermilab and much more.  

The hospital tour is the latest addition to the FLC’s popular digital feature, LabTech in Your Life, which illustrates how countless products we rely on in daily life began in federal laboratories. In addition to the hospital, LabTech in Your Life includes a virtual home and airport that feature dozens of federal innovations, from baby formula to airport security scanners. Each technology represents years of research and development, as well as successful partnerships between federal laboratories and businesses in a wide range of market sectors to bring the innovations to the public through a process called technology transfer. Through this interactive experience, visitors can see how their tax dollars fund research that comes full circle to produce technologies that benefit them in daily life.  

The Lab Tech hospital tour includes technologies from federal agencies including the Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy and Department of Health and Human Services. The hospital is the newest location in a growing virtual city, which will continue expanding to include more public spaces where federal innovations improve daily life, the economy and national security. 

“The FLC is very excited to present the hospital tour as part of the virtual city that makes up LabTech in Your Life,” says Paul Zielinski, the FLC’s Executive Director. “The hospital highlights some incredible lifesaving technologies – such as the Covid-19 vaccine – and as we expand LabTech in Your Life, it shows the incredible value of federal technology transfer and its positive impact on our lives.” 

The house, airport and hospital tours feature 115 technologies from nine federal agencies:  

• Department of Agriculture  

• Department of Commerce 

• Department of Defense 

• Department of Energy 

• Department of Health and Human Services 

• Department of Homeland Security 

• Department of Transportation 

• Environmental Protection Agency, and 

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

 

For a complete list of technologies for LabTech in Medicine, LabTech at Home and LabTech in Flight, please visit the FLC website.  

About the FLC 

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer is a formally chartered, nationwide network of more than 300 federal laboratories, agencies and research centers. The Consortium fosters commercialization best practice strategies and opportunities for accelerating federal technologies from out of the labs and into the marketplace. 

To learn more, visit www.federallabs.org. 

Media contact: 
Carolina Olivieri 
FLC Marketing Director  
[email protected] 
202-960-1781