LEVERAGING NASA TECHNOLOGY

摘要

At the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States, as well as at other space agencies around the world, significant resources are invested in developing the technologies needed to achieve mission goals. These technologies represent a substantial asset with value that can be enhanced by maximizing their internal and external use, thereby increasing the return on investment for the taxpayer. At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office employs a New Technology Assessment (NTA) process to analyze systematically the internal/strategic and external/market value of every technology, regardless of whether NASA owns the rights to the technology. Goddard's NTA process, which can be adopted by other space agencies, includes a monthly meeting where key personnel come to consensus on the appropriate disposition for each innovation. That disposition decision is based on evaluation against established criteria regarding internal/strategic value, external/market value, ownership, and patentability and copyrighting. Then, depending on the evaluation findings and the final disposition decision, the IPP Office pursues internal and/or external opportunities (both within the United States as well as with space agencies or foreign entities such as universities and businesses) for the technology.