Sandia Labs FY21 LDRD Annual Report

FY21 ANNUAL REPORT

R&D 100 Awards Another relevant indicator of advancement and leadership in an ST&E field is the R&D 100 Award. The prestigious “Oscars of Invention” honor the latest and best innovations and identify the top technology products of the past year. The LDRD Program Offices at each site often partner with sister organizations, such as the Intellectual Property Office and Public Affairs, to track whether R&D 100 winners in either the standard category or special awards have “LDRD roots.” Often, because of the long development time from an LDRD idea to practical implementation, the staff who work on an award-winning technology product may not be the same researchers who initiated the original R&D. Each site’s LDRD Program Office engages in an extensive interview process to uncover the details of how the LDRD work led to the celebrated invention. Since 1976, Sandia has won 135 R&D 100 awards, illustrating the Labs’ contributions in developing products and technologies with the potential to change industries and improve the world. Over the past three years, 54% of Sandia’s R&D 100 winning contributions have been rooted in LDRD;

over the past 16 years, over 69% have come from LDRD. FY2021 winners from Sandia are described in depth in the Workforce Development section of this report.

LDRD and R&D 100 Awards Earned by Sandia National Laboratories Counts in the metrics below include standard R&D 100 awards and special recognition awards, as well as awards led by other organizations where Sandia was a key partner.

Single Years

Five Years

To Date*

FY19

FY20

FY21

FY11-15 FY16-20

FY06-21

Total Awards

8 4

7 4

9 5

20 15

32 22

82 57

Awards with LDRD Roots

% with LDRD Roots

50% 57% 56%

75%

69%

69%

Average Years from First LDRD Investment

3.8

8

4.6

5

5.6

5

*Initial year to date: Each NNSA laboratory has chosen the appropriate lookback period to ensure data integrity.

10

LABORATORY DIRECTED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT