How did a Longmont, CO, entrepreneur come to market a product that was patented by a NASA scientist to solve the problem of dehydration in astronauts? NASA sells licenses to private individuals and companies seeking to commercialize its inventions, but typically those licenses are used in industrial applications, says Jeffrey Smith, deputy chief of the entrepreneur initiatives division at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. In rare cases, NASA inventions are turned into consumer products, he adds. David Belaga, who has a background in the commercial products industry and worked at a nutritional supplement company, was looking to start his own company when he began exploring NASA web sites for ideas. Instantly, he saw the commercial potential in NASA’s hydration discovery. “When I came across this technology, it was one of those ‘aha’ moments,” Belaga recalls.

After negotiating with the space agency, he licensed the technology earlier this year through his company, Wellness Brands, Inc., and branded it “The Right Stuff” after the classic Tom Wolfe astronaut tale. The Right Stuff is an electrolyte concentrate that users add to water. According to NASA, the patented formula helps to prevent the loss of body fluids during heavy exercise, heat exposure, and illness. Belaga found a New York pharmaceutical company that could manufacture and package The Right Stuff, and he signed up a distributor in Des Moines, IA. He gave his company a Boulder mailing address because that city has cachet within the athletic community. In June, NASA announced Belaga’s license agreement. His phone began ringing soon afterwards. “Our original business plan was going after the elite — college and professional — athletes, but much to our pleasant surprise, the story was picked up by a lot of media outlets,” Belaga says. Orders to his web site followed quickly, and he began shipping product days later. The Right Stuff isn’t cheap, Belaga admits, but it’s not cheap to make, either. He has to pay a hefty sum to the pharmaceutical manufacturer to make and package it, and he’ll pay licensing fees to NASA for many years, though he declines to say how long. But revenues are ahead of schedule, and Belaga estimates that by next year, revenues will grow into “the hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Already, he’s planning to use the hydration technology in areas outside of athletics, potentially marketing to sufferers of jet lag, altitude sickness, and even as a hangover remedy.

Source: OregonLive

Posted September 1st, 2009 under Intellectual Property Marketing

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