March 30, 2009 Vol. 2, Issue 3
From Space Act agreements to prize contests, the Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) helps NASA meet its technology needs through a portfolio of investments and partnerships.
As one of NASA’s Mission Support Offices, IPP supports all four Mission Directorates and has program offices at each of the NASA centers. IPP typically facilitates over 200 new partnerships with the private and other external sectors each year.
The objective of a partnership is for each partner to derive a high value as a result of the partnership. When putting a partnership in place, it is useful to consider the actions being taken and characteristics of the partnership, then relating those items to the value of the partnership. It is in the best interest of both partners, for example, to avoid a lengthy and burdensome process of putting a partnership in place. Doing so adds to the cost of both partners, and creates delays that tend to reduce the benefits to be derived, both of which erode value.
For a partnership to be successful, each of the partners must perceive that the partnership provides good value, where the benefits derived from the partnership greatly exceed the costs of entering into the partnership. Perception is important here because although the cost of entering into a partnership may be quantifiable in dollar terms, the benefits to be derived from a partnership may not be easily quantifiable. An example could be a partner’s interest in using a NASA facility with unique capabilities essential to meet their needs, or the benefit that NASA sees in positive outreach with the public resulting from a partnership.
When an opportunity for partnership emerges, it is important to understand the various facets of a potential partnership, and the perspectives of each partner. To do this, it is useful to consider a generalized partnership model that captures the type of offerings that NASA and its potential partners can make. NASA’s offerings could include technology, access to NASA facilities or expertise, and of course funding. Partner offerings could include technology, services, intellectual property, and so forth. There are numerous mechanisms that could be employed to effect a partnership, from licensing to contracts or grants, to Space Act agreements. NASA has unique authority for partnership agreements — known as Space Act Agreements — as part of the agency’s enabling authorization under the NASA Space Act of 1958. This has given NASA a long history of collaboration as part of the agency’s mandate.
There are many activities that are critical throughout the lifecycle of a partnership, from the initial state of identifying a need, locating potential sources of technology or innovation to address that need, facilitating the connection between potential partners and the negotiation that leads to an agreement. In order for any partnership to succeed, getting to an agreement is just the start. It takes ongoing work from both sides to cultivate the partnership to achieve its objectives. An established partnership requires regular and ongoing communications. Success should be recognized and rewarded to create positive incentives that will continue to motivate innovation.
One of the premier tools NASA uses for communicating its technologies that are available for use outside of NASA is Tech Briefs magazine, which is read by over 250,000 technology experts. Tech Briefs is also used to feature some of NASAs current and future technology challenges in an effort to reach out to technologists who may have ideas or technologies available that can address those challenges.
Communication is also important to convey success stories — not only helping advise stakeholders as to how well NASA is doing, but also providing important case studies and lessons learned to help enable more successes in the future. Spinoff is NASA’s annual publication featuring successfully commercialized NASA technology. For more than 40 years, IPP has facilitated the transfer of NASA technology to the private sector, improving the quality of life, contributing to U.S. global competitiveness, and stimulating the national economy. Technology Innovation (PDF) is another IPP publication that communicates how NASA is another IPP publication that communicates how NASA is advancing technology through various partnerships, with the current issue focused on how NASA innovations are helping to sustain the Earth and its resources.
Another important activity performed by IPP is facilitation — identifying technological needs, forming relationships and creating opportunities for making connections between sources that can fulfill those needs, through a number of venues. One particular facilitation activity that has been a big success for NASA is the TecFusion Forum. These forums actively reach out to large companies in various industry sectors to connect their needs with technologies developed by small businesses through federal funding, creating partnership and acquisition opportunities.
The education of NASA personnel as well as industry and others, regarding the opportunities and mechanisms for partnerships, is a very important element of the dynamic innovation process. An example of this is the authority for government agencies and their prime contractors to contract with small business innovative research (SBIR) firms for continued work on technologies they have developed with SBIR funding. Such contracts can be made on a sole-source basis without competition, enabling rapid access to technologies that may be very important to mission success. IPP also works with small businesses to help them mature their business processes and their ability to be successful.
By surveying the technology landscape inside and outside of NASA, the IPP professionals and their contractor support team are able to locate potential matches. To identify technology capabilities that NASA can offer NASA inventors, including civil servants and contractors, file New Technology Reports (NTRs) that describe their new technologies and what the potential applications may be. These NTRs provide descriptions of technologies that are communicated to a broad audience through the Tech Briefs publication described previously.
To identify NASA’s technology needs, IPP works closely with NASA’s Mission Directorates. IPP communicates those needs through an annual solicitation for its SBIR/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, developed in close coordination with the Mission Directorates, programs, projects and field centers. The annual solicitation is being structured such that SBIR/STTR investments will be integrated with and complementary to other Mission Directorate technology investments. In addition, there are industry workshops and focused activities conducted by the Mission Directorates to communicate their needs and challenges. The IPP professionals who are seeking to make these connections between needs and capabilities often have to translate between different cultures and industrial sectors. Translation is a critical activity in order to avoid missed opportunities. Technologies in one sector may be described in different terms than in another, so it is important to have an understanding of the principles behind a particular technology to fully realize the potential for alternate applications.
NASA also motivates innovation to achieve technical needs through prizes. Centennial Challenges is NASA’s program of prize contests to stimulate innovation through competition in technology areas of value to NASA and the nation. Centennial Challenges seeks novel solutions from non-traditional sources of innovation in academia, industry, and the public. Competitors finance their own development work, and aggregate private investment typically far exceeds the value of the prize itself. Centennial Challenge competitions have encouraged the creation of new companies leading to more commercial competition and new opportunities for public-private partnerships.
Another activity to motivate technology solutions is the IPP Seed Fund — an annual solicitation that provides leveraged funding to address technology barriers to mission capability goals via cost-shared, joint-development partnerships. IPP works closely with the Mission Directorates to use SBIR/STTR, Centennial Challenges, and the Seed Fund to provide critical needs that are integral to their technology planning and investment strategies.
From helping rovers and landers explore the surface of Mars to providing wireless sensor systems for detecting impacts to the leading edge of the Space Shuttle wings to testing inflatable habitats in Antarctica and ISRU systems for the moon to testing new synthetic aircraft fuels with the Air Force, IPP partnerships provide important contributions to help meet NASA mission objectives. The variety of available partnership mechanisms increases NASA’s connection to emerging technologies in external communities, enables targeted positioning of NASA’s technology portfolio in selected areas, and secures NASA’s intellectual property to support NASA’s strategic goals. Technology transfer through dual-use partnerships and licensing also creates many important socioeconomic benefits for the nation.
