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The new iEdison logo
The new iEdison is coming and Bethany Loftin of the Technology Partnerships Office is leading the way at NIST in the modernization and rebuild of the platform. iEdison was initially created in the 1990s to provide a one stop shop for reporting federally funded research. It allows for awardees to report any inventions and patents that were discovered from federal funding as mandated through the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980.
Over the last few decades, the National Institute of Health hosted the iEdison platform, ensuring that accurate and timely reporting was achieved. With the onset of the 21st century came changes in technologies and regulatory requirements and so NIST was tasked with modernizing iEdison to fit the standard. Bethany was selected for this project due to her extensive experience in Bayh-Dole compliance and iEdison reporting.
“I was excited to be a part of this project as I have been involved in this field for years. Through my experience, I was able to get a lot of feedback from the iEdison customer base. This has allowed me to better finetune the rebuild and streamline changes,” said Bethany.
Some of the changes that will be made with the new iEdison include increased communication channels, increased reporting capabilities, and customizable reporting. Bethany hopes to increase customer interaction through these accessible two-way communication channels, as well as provide the foundation for awardees to craft the reports their way.
“The iEdison rebuild will come with a lot of new tools to help the end user with reporting. To reach that point, we sent out a request for information asking iEdison users what they would like to see in the new version. This customer feedback truly helped tailor the modernization effort to align with the customer needs,” said Bethany.
Through Bethany’s direction, NIST looks forward to hosting the new iEdison for years to come and to provide an optimal experience for all reporting of federally funded research. The rebuild is expected to launch and come online in the summer of 2022. Bethany is planning for several customer training sessions pre-launch to give an in-depth look into the platform and how to use it.