From textiles that help regulate body temperature to batteries that make solar power more reliable, NASA scientists and engineers have produced thousands of technology and software patents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But how do those innovations make their way into our everyday life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This fall, University of Georgia students in the UGA Entrepreneurship Program explored NASA\u2019s treasure trove of patents and developed ideas to bring these technologies to market as part of a collaboration with NASA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNASA has thousands of patents, but they don\u2019t commercialize things,\u201d said Don Chambers, assistant director of the UGA Entrepreneurship Program. \u201cThese students are searching for commercialization possibilities. They\u2019re looking for problems that need solving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NASA\u2019s T2U initiative connects universities with NASA-developed technology, providing students the opportunity to build case studies with the agency\u2019s patent portfolio while learning about technology licensing and design thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students in Chambers\u2019 entrepreneurship certificate capstone class are the first to participate in the T2U initiative at UGA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNASA solves very niche problems with extreme technology,\u201d said Filipe Costa, a finance and real estate senior completing his entrepreneurship certificate. \u201cYou go through the patents, and they\u2019re awesome. But what do I do with them? I mean, it\u2019s sick, but how do I sell it? How do I make a business out of it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Costa was one of many students pitching their business ideas for NASA patents at the inaugural UGA-T2U pitch day on Nov. 19 at Studio 225, UGA\u2019s student entrepreneurship center. Six teams presented their products to a panel of five judges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NASA\u2019s Technology Transfer Office launched T2U in 2015 to bring new energy into the technology commercialization process, said Mike Riccio, a NASA technology licensing specialist based in Atlanta. Riccio works with startups and established companies to find applications for NASA\u2019s patents and also builds relationships with colleges and universities across the country, now including UGA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cT2U serves as an excellent pathway to get our technologies into the hands of creative folks who have the time and the energy to create new innovative solutions for real world problems,\u201d Riccio said. \u201cInjecting NASA\u2019s IP portfolio into the classroom has a special way of generating novel product concepts and igniting the entrepreneurial spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The collaboration also broadens students\u2019 understanding of the types of solutions to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat a 20-year-old comes up with is less advanced because they simply don\u2019t have exposure to the decades of research and engineering that NASA has,\u201d Chambers said. \u201cThese projects that they are pitching are definitely more advanced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chambers intentionally built his class into interdisciplinary teams, so each group brought multiple skillsets and ways of approaching problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, Costa\u2019s team started with the idea for a noninvasive sensor that measures the pressure inside the skull. Their final pitch for the product, called Rapid ICP, proposed using the sensor in ambulances to assess stroke and head trauma patients and route them to the appropriate hospitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On another team, music therapy and entrepreneurship student Adelaide Mangum helped create Biobeats, a biofeedback sensor that monitors heart rate and adjusts the user\u2019s environment. Her team explored using it as a training tool for exercise or as a component for a virtual reality experience. Finally, they envisioned a device and software that syncs a user\u2019s phone playlist to their heart rate, playing songs to help them regulate their heartbeat and reduce stress \u2014 like an automated music-therapy DJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four other teams created products incorporating NASA technology to varying degrees. They included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This cross-pollination of entertainment, therapy, art and technology is part of what makes T2U such an interesting phenomenon, Riccio said. Students bring fresh eyes from disciplines across campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the Entrepreneurship Certificate program, there\u2019s a lot of different majors represented,\u201d Mangum said. \u201cThere are business majors, but there are also people from different places across the university, so you get a lot of ideas that might be more niche to solve problems that people didn\u2019t know existed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mangum said the patents also introduced solutions she never could have considered. \u201cI could never picture myself working on a product that would help with music therapy instead of focusing only on one-on-one therapy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut looking at all the NASA patents \u2014 that was eye-opening to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n