Identifying Potential Markets for the Intellectual Property at Kennedy Space Center and Initial Results

As the exploration of space expands and develops, researchers endeavour to create improved technologies to facilitate that objective. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Kennedy Space Center (KSC) identified a need to manage and transfer intellectual property resulting from this research. NASA-KSC partnered with a group of Florida Minority institutions to assist with the technology transfer programme. Florida International University (FIU) is one of the participating institutions. This paper describes the development of a methodology to search for industry partners for commercialisation of innovative technologies. These technologies and their related intellectual capital are being transferred from the research laboratories into the private sector. Potential industry partners are studied, taking into consideration the company's capabilities, relevant products, and interests in developing their potential commercialisation profile. The results of the commercialisation efforts for 13 technologies developed at KSC are presented in this paper. To date, three of the 13 technologies have been transferred to 16 companies.(Publication abstract)