Transcript How Lessons From NASA Can Help You Make the Most of New

Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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Presentation Overview
• Barriers to Commercialisation
• Background of U.S. government R&D Innovation and
Commercialisation
• Proactive vs. Reaction Commercialisation
• Commercialisation at NASA-Johnson Space Center
• Internal Education
• Incentives and Disincentives
• External Relationships
• The Three Legged Stool: Technology / Management /
Financing
• The Innovation Process: The JSC Commercialization Pipeline
model
• NASA-Johnson Space Center Commercialisation Examples
• Recommendations for R&D Organisations
• Recommendations for Commercial Firms
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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Barriers to Commercialisation
•
Cultural Barriers - Technical and Business Knowledge, Skills, Interests and
Experience
• Lack of understanding in the technical community on what to do with new
technologies and discoveries
• Lack of understanding in the business community on how to find new
innovations and how to gain access to them
•
Transaction Costs – Time and Money
• Long lead times
• Significant investments with no clear return on investment
•
Intellectual Property Protection
Patent law is complex, expensive and difficult to enforce
•
Accountability
Getting inventions to the marketplace is rarely in anyone’s job description
•
Disincentives
Effort spent on commercialisation is time taken away from the “real” job
•
Regulatory and Security Restrictions
Many organisations (particularly governmental) are barred from certain business
activities
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Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
U.S. Government R&D and Innovation
• Annual U.S Government Expenditure for R&D: $75 billion (£42
billion)
– NASA is the 3rd largest government R&D organisation, spending
about $5 billion annually
– $1 billion annually is awarded for small business R&D,
administered through Dept of Defense, National Institute of
Health, and NASA
• Acts of Congress
– Technology Transfer Act – 1986
– Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act – 1992
• Executive Orders
The Clinton Administration’s National Performance Review – Agenda
for Change – 1994
• NASA Response
Creation of Technology Transfer and Commercialization Offices at
each of its 10 field centers -- coordinated by NASA Headquarters,
Washington D.C. -- 1994
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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Proactive Commercialisation
Industry/Gov't
Patents
Cooperative
&
R&D Proof Licensing
Basic
of
R&D
Prototype
Concept
Government
Development
NASA
Hardware
Commercial
Development
Commercial
Product
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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NASA-JSC Office of Technology Transfer
and Commercialization
MISSION
to . . .
transfer and enable commercialization
of NASA-JSC technologies
to the private sector to create jobs,
improve productivity and
increase U.S. competitiveness.
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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NASA-JSC Office of Technology Transfer
and Commercialization
OVERVIEW
•
A small directorate level office was created in March 1994 to
coordinate commercialisation activities at the NASA/Johnson
Space Center
•
The office philosophy was to maintain a small core staff (14
people) of commercialisation officers and patent attorneys
•
The Office networks internally to the 17 technology divisions
•
The Office networks externally to commercialisation centers,
other federal labs and commercial firms on a project-by-project
basis
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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Internal Education
•
The philosophy of the Commercialisation Office is to facilitate JSC
technology divisions in commercialising their own innovations
•
A number of meetings is held with each of the 17 technology
divisions at JSC
•
At the first meeting, a presentation is given by the
Commercialization Office to discuss what commercialization is, why
it’s of interest, how it works, and what to do with new innovations
•
At the second meeting, the division presents its top-three
innovations to a panel of commercialisation officers, patent
attorneys, and business development experts. The panel gives its
assessment of why these innovations are, or are not, of interest,
and what happens next.
•
A series of discussions follow, focused on taking the most
promising innovations through the commercialisation process
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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Incentives for NASA Inventors and JSC
• Professional Prestige and Publicity for Receiving Patents
• Monetary Awards
• $500 upon patent application filing ($250 each for multiple inventors)
• $500 ($250 each for multiple innovators) NASA Tech Briefs publication
award for software innovations.
• $150 NASA Tech Briefs publication award for all others.
• Supplemental awards up to $100,000
• Royalties – Stevenson-Wydler & Technology Transfer Acts
• NASA Inventor receives first $2000 of royalties + 25% thereafter
• JSC receives remaining royalties (NOT Federal Treasury)
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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External Relationships
Mid-Continent
Technology
Transfer
Center
Texas
Research
Triangle
Institute
North Carolina
Business
Incubators
(e.g., Univ. Houston)
Texas
NASA
Johnson Space
Center
Texas
Other
NASA
Field Centers
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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The Three-Legged Stool
• Technology
The Right Products at the Right Time: A complex balance of
technical merit, patentability, and commercial product
potential
• Management
The most successful management team has the right
technical and business skills, interests, experience, passion
and attitudes – Not easy to find
• Financing
The management team often find themselves on an
endless pursuit of additional funding, instead of making the
business and products a success
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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NASA-Johnson Space Center
Commercialization Pipeline
Marketing
Materials
Preparation
Existing
Patent
Portfolio
Contractor
Reporting
Requirements
Inventor
Initiative
Prioritized via
Marketing
Quicklook
New
Technology
Reports
Marketing Strategy
Development and
Implementation
Marketing
Inventory
& Evaluation
Invention
Disclosures
Success
Stories
Commercialization
Patenting
Division
Top-3
Technical,
Commercial,
and Patent
Evaluation
Assess IP
Rights
Contractor can:
 Retain ( govt stops)
 Waive (govt cont’s)
 Not respond
(cont’s)
Post-Licensing
Activities
Patentability
Search
Technology
Description /
Marketing
Quicklook
Commercial
Products
Licensing
Negotiations
Patent
Application
Filing
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
Business, Marketing,
Product Development
by licensee
Shaded boxes indicate marketing
team functions
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NASA-JSC Commercialization Examples
Bioreactor - Rotary Cell Culture System
• Cells in space grow in three
dimensions and are able to
‘self associate’
• The Bioreactor was
invented by NASA to
simulate the space
environment
• Invention was exclusively
licensed to Synthecon,
headed by a retired NASA
engineer and co-inventor.
Sales currently exceed $2
million.
• In 2000, a Space Act
Agreement was signed with
StelSys, Inc., to develop
commercial medical
products based on
bioreactor technology.
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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NASA-JSC Commercialization Examples
DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device
• The resulting device weighs 4
ounces and is one tenth the size
of other VAD’s
• To date, Micromed, the license
holder, has implanted the
DeBakey VAD in 230 patients
in clinical trials worldwide
• NASA engineer, Dave Saucier,
entered Baylor College of
Medicine hospital with heart
problems. Discussed with his
surgeon, Michael DeBakey,
the need for a new
generation of heart assist
devices for people with endstage congestive heart
failure. The device keeps the
patient alive, prior to a heart
transplant.
• Saucier pioneered a
relationship between NASA
and Baylor, combining space
shuttle turbine technology
and NASA Shuttle re-entry
hydrodynamic software with
Baylor medical expertise
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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NASA-JSC Commercialization Examples
Intelligent Computer-Aided Training
• Winner of the 1994 NASA
Invention of the Year Award
• Artificial intelligence shell
programme to enable
instruction, simulation, and
behavior analysis of complex
subject matter
• Used to design astronaut and
operator training programmes
for several missions, including
the Hubble repair and the
Physics Tutor for high schools
• Used by military to train tank
crews
• Possible use for training
microchip designers, flight
controllers, nurses, and other
disciplines, particularly in
conjunction with virtual reality
simulators
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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Recommendations for
R&D Organisations
• An Innovation Process
Establish an Assessment & Development Process, similar to the JSC
Commercialization Pipeline
• Clear Accountability and Incentives
Inform all members of staff that they have responsibilities for getting
innovations out of the lab and show how they can benefit from
successful commercialisation
• Internal Education
Develop an process to educate staff on what commercialisation is, how it
works, and their role
• External Relationships
Develop a network of relationships to assist with technical, commercial,
and patent assessments and to provide management and financial
know-how
• Professional Innovation-Commercialisation Associations
Become active in organisations promoting the professional development
of staff and organisations
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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Recommendations for
Commercial Firms
• New Inventions and Discoveries
Innovation is the lifeblood of your competitiveness. Identify the most
likely sources of innovation in your industry, both internal and
external.
• External Relationships
Develop relationships with the most promising sources. For example,
create a Technologist Exchange Programme, trading technical staff on
a rotating basis.
• Process
Establish innovation and commercialisation in your firm as a core
competency. Assign high level staff to be Keepers of the Process, with
clear accountability and incentives.
• Professional Innovation-Commercialisation Associations
Become active in organisations promoting the professional development
of staff and organisations to more effectively move inventions from
the laboratory to the marketplace.
Kyle Fairchild -- Fairchild Innovation Consulting -- [email protected]
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