CSA SpaceBound! Winter-Spring 2004, vol. 14 Index page 2

As a member of NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP), the Far West Regional Technology Transfer Center (FWRTTC) is charged with creating partnerships with industry, academia, and other non-traditional sources to develop and transfer technology in support of the NASA mission in general and the Vision for Space Exploration in particular. FWRTTC seeks to create partnerships and cooperative activities between NASA and U.S. external enterprises to share the costs of developing technology of mutual value to all partners. NASA expects such partnerships to lead to technology that can be applied to key mission needs while at the same time contributing to the partner’s commercial competitiveness in global markets. NASA’s primary interest in these partnerships is therefore the leveraged infusion of new technology into the Agency.

At the same time, as part of the agency's statutory charter, NASA facilitates the transfer and commercialization of NASA-sponsored research and technology, including the industrial use of unique NASA R&D capabilities and facilities. These efforts, known as technology diffusion, build upon the Agency's rich history of technology transfer and partnership with U.S. industry. NASA’s technology diffusion function serves to improve U.S. industrial competitiveness by creating a pathway to the commercial marketplace for valuable NASA technology through partnership with U.S. industrial firms.

FWRTTC works primarily to promote partnerships between U.S. industry and the three NASA research centers located in the far western region of the United States: Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory. FWRTTC works to reach companies throughout eight states in the Far West region with the message that innovative partnerships with NASA make good business sense. FWRTTC concentrates its NASA commercial technology outreach and promotional efforts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

FWRTTC encourages partnerships between NASA and industry for both technology infusion and technology diffusion. NASA uses several standard partnership mechanisms to achieve these goals. These mechanisms include:

FWRTTC seeks to mentor small businesses in the art and technique of preparing winning NASA SBIR and STTR proposals. FWRTTC’s efforts result in an overall increase in the quality of SBIR and STTR funding proposals that NASA receives. FWRTTC conducts training seminars for small businesses on NASA SBIR and STTR throughout the eight states in our Far West region. FWRTTC also provides specific advice and input to small businesses in the area of commercialization planning. This is an important SBIR and STTR evaluation criterion, particularly for companies making phase II proposals.

FWRTTC is one of six NASA-sponsored regional technology transfer centers across the country. FWRTTC is an operating unit within the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Technology Transfer Center (ETTC).

For further information please contact:
Martin Zeller, NASA Far West RTTC, USC ETTC
3716 S. Hope Street, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90007
Phone: 213-743-2353
E-mail: nasa@usc.edu
Website: http://www.usc.edu/go/ttc