In 2001 the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, was badly in need of marketing help, recalls Nona Cheeks, MBA, chief of the space agency’s Innovative Partnerships Program. “We were weak on strategy — at a loss, actually, being a government entity,” says Cheeks. Specifically, she notes, “we needed help in being able to screen our technology, to make sure we understood what we had, assess it, and to target markets that would give them optimal advantage.” That help came in the form of a two-pronged approach recommended by Laura A. Schoppe, President of Fuentek, LLC, a technology consulting group based in Apex, NC. “First, we assisted them with traditional technology licensing — a soup-to-nuts approach from understanding their portfolio and prioritizing to ongoing evaluation to help market to their greatest potential, and helping them negotiate,” Schoppe says. “They have a tremendous number of patents so they can’t actively pursue all of them.” The second approach is what she calls the ‘infusion side’ of IP development and marketing. “This is the flip side; some call it ‘technology pull,’” she says. “NASA has to go to the Moon, Mars, and beyond; they have limited time and money, so they cannot do it by themselves. We try to leverage what has already been solved in industry.” So, for example, NASA may have a problem with a valve or a mechanism needed for a lunar vehicle, which must be able to handle the Moon’s fine, abrasive dust. “But that situation may not be too dissimilar to an earthbound mechanism; for example, bulldozers that move sand have gaskets, valves, and so forth,” says Schoppe. “So if NASA identifies someone in industry dealing with a similar issue, they can work with them collaboratively to come up with a space-based solution.” A detailed article on how Fuentek helped NASA expand both traditional and “infusion” marketing appears in the March 2008 issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

Posted March 17th, 2009 under Intellectual Property Marketing

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