NASA Creates Portal to Promote Technology Transfer; Dan Lockney comments
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched a new web based portal for technology transfer last month, reports Bridget Mintz Testa for AOL Government.
The new web portal contains data from 10 various NASA websites under a technology transfer program which aims to promote NASA patents and commercialize their technologies.
The portal consolidates 10 different websites which were previously run by individual NASA field centers.
The portal provides the following features: a unique set of analytics, a searchable list of patents that are available for licensing, an application to collaborate with NASA, and contact details for federal laboratories and government technology centers.
The comprehensive list of commercialized technologies can be found under the NASA Spinoff section.
Around 1,635 patents are currently displayed on the website, most of which are technologies which have been successfully commercialized through the help of private U.S. companies.
Ventilators for critically injured patients and custom machines that advance composite manufacturing are just some of the technologies available.
Dan Lockney, the agency’s Program Executive for Technology Transfer, said that since 1958 technology transfer has been an integral part of NASA’s mission.
He mentioned that their goal is to make the largest practicable dissemination of NASA’s R&D, and the website is a great way of doing that.
Lockney claims that NASA technologies are applied to various industries. Each field center has their own specialty and manages different programs to engage their clients.
The agency hopes to increase passive marketing with the portal and make it easier for interested parties to locate the solutions they need.
Lockney says that the data consolidation took over a year to finish and they are working to constantly improve the portal.
Donald S. Siegel, dean and professor at the business school of the University of Albany, State University of New York, stated that the portal provides an efficient hub for investors to gather information about a technology and identify the location where the technology comes from.
Facility inspection and being close to their investment is a critical factor for investors, he explained.
However, he reminds NASA that it takes more than a new website to increase transfer of technology.
Transitioning federal-funded technology into commercial application is crucial to enhance “national innovation” and the government must improve and accelerate its programs to achieve this, said Siegel.