NASA's Commercial
Technology Network
- An Overview
By Dr. Robert L. Norwood
Director, Commercial Technology Division NASA Headquarters
With the Space Act of 1958, Congress
gave NASA direction for leading America’s space program and
mandated the agency to work with U.S. industry. More than 40 years
later, this partnership—NASA’s
technology transfer and commercialization program—has generated
exciting new technologies in the United States and abroad that positively
impact our economy and boost our global competitiveness.
In 1994, NASA Administrator Daniel
S. Goldin announced a new initiative for a new way of doing business.
NASA is to be commended for not only embracing the mission from
Congress, but also for strengthening it in documents such as Administrator
Goldin’s Agenda for Change, which re-establishes NASA’s
commitment to work with industry, implementing a new way of doing
business, to move federally-funded R&D into the marketplace.
Technology transfer and commercialization
is important to our economic well-being. The NASA Commercial Technology
Network (NCTN) sees a huge industry demand for NASA technologies
as U.S. companies reach out to public sector research and development.
NASA established the NCTN as a foundation for its technology transfer
and commercialization mission and has built an extensive infrastructure
toward this end. It began with NASA’s Centers of Excellence
(Field Centers): Ames, Dryden, Goddard, Johnson, Kennedy, Langley,
Lewis (now Glenn Research Center), Marshall and the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, and has expanded to include:
- Regional Technology Transfer Centers
and the National Technology Transfer Center
- Commercialization and incubation
centers
- Affiliated organizations
As we go forward in the new millennium,
it is imperative to vigorously form and continue these partnerships
essential to U.S. economic growth. Successfully utilized partnerships
with industry, benefit not only the industrial customer and NASA,
but also the economy and U.S. taxpayer.
While NASA’s role at the cutting
edge of research in space exploration is well known, the potential
commercial applications of this effort are equally inspiring and
renowned. The benefits of
NASA technology are wide ranging–from
home water filters and athletic shoes to advances in medical research,
airline safety and fire fighting techniques. The application of
NASA’s technologies also contribute to the creation of jobs,
companies, and industries. Understanding gained through NASA research
and space exploration promotes more effective skills in a wide range
of everyday technologies and aids in producing and processing many
materials, including metals, semiconductors, polymers and glass.
We drive cars and fly airplanes that were designed using NASA computer
software. We live in homes constructed with insulation material
that was developed using NASA technology. We work in office buildings
that carry electricity through flat conductor cables that incorporate
NASA technology.
The International Space Station (ISS)
will provide the opportunity for long-term research that can be
applied to commercially viable products and processes. Economic
development of low-Earth orbit is a priority goal of the ISS. With
the ISS now in orbit, new frontiers in human space exploration,
technology and business have opened. The ISS will provide more space
for research, with greater resources and flexibility than any spacecraft
ever built. Companies will have unprecedented access to the space
environment to perform long-term research that can be applied to
the development of new products and processes. Such research will
support the development of new markets and industries, enhance America’s
competitiveness in the international marketplace and provide economic
benefits to people on Earth.
Many other examples will result from
NASA’s strategic focus to advance and communicate scientific
knowledge and understanding of Earth and space, to explore, use,
and enable the development of space for human enterprise and to
research, develop, verify and transfer advanced aeronautics, space
and related technologies.
Yesterday’s accomplishments coupled
with today’s innovations pave the way for tomorrow’s advances
as NASA’s commercial technology program continues to focus
its efforts on the incorporation of our technologies into state-of-the-art
products and services. With a continued emphasis on partnering with
industry, companies have transferred NASA know-how into products
and services that affect and enhance our quality of everyday life.
All of us in the NCTN look forward
to continuing NASA’s dynamic role of expanding the horizon
of knowledge, while benefiting humanity through new commercial products
and services well into the new century and beyond.
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