Article

Measuring the Economic Returns from Successful NASA Life Sciences Technology Transfers

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Abstract

Since 1958 NASA has invested approximately $3.7 billion in life sciences R&D in the support of the successful human space flight program. There are numerous studies documenting the spin-off technologies that can be traced to NASA research and development activities. Most of these studies describe the technologies and their uses; however only a few measure the economic impact of the spin-offs and most of these are benefit/cost studies that tend to overstate benefits or underestimate costs. This study takes a different approach, measuring only economic impacts to the companies that developed successful spin-off products from NASA life sciences investments. A personal interview was conducted with each company and the benefits are conservatively estimated as the value-added by the NASA technology to the company's output and the amount of additional private R&D stimulated by the NASA R&D. This pilot study of fifteen companies, using a very conservative measurement technique, found a large return to companies that have successfully commercialized NASA life sciences spin-off products. Value-added benefits totaled over $1.5 billion and a NASA R&D total investment in these 15 technologies of $64 million was found to stimulate an additional $200 million in private R&D. The study also found that the largest benefits were from products developed and marketed by large companies, primarily because these companies had the financial and marketing resources to work on a scale unavailable to smaller companies. Many of the small companies reported very profitable product-lines as well as documented evidence of benefits extending to the commercial users of their products. However, the smaller companies often lacked either the ability or the desire to expand into much larger scale production. NASA and other government technology transfer programs may be overlooking an opportunity to enlarge the economic benefits from their spin-off technologies. When a federal R&D grant or contract ends, the formal relationship between the agency and the company also usually ends. However, the companies continue to use the prior connection to NASA for advertising and for developing new business partners. One recommendation of this study is for NASA to be more proactive with “alumni” companies and to help open additional financial and marketing doors for these companies.

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... Among the tools for measuring economic impact, the relevant parameters are those described as "value added", (defined as sales attributable to the product minus the cost of material input), and the amount of additional R&D. The ROI index should not be used (because the public sector does not count the benefits it generates for civil society, and R&D expenditure is not a government investment), nor should cost/benefit analysis be used since it is similar to the ROI index [23,24]. ...
... e Lack of property rights agreements [26,23,24]; e Complex and time-consuming federal procurement procedures [23,24]; e Lack of understanding of the technology and its potential profits [30]; e Profit opportunities not clear or too risky [30]; e Potential licensee not familiar with proposed technical area [30]. ...
... e Lack of property rights agreements [26,23,24]; e Complex and time-consuming federal procurement procedures [23,24]; e Lack of understanding of the technology and its potential profits [30]; e Profit opportunities not clear or too risky [30]; e Potential licensee not familiar with proposed technical area [30]. ...
... Among the tools for measuring economic impact, the relevant parameters are those described as "value added", (defined as sales attributable to the product minus the cost of material input), and the amount of additional R&D. The ROI index should not be used (because the public sector does not count the benefits it generates for civil society, and R&D expenditure is not a government investment), nor should cost/benefit analysis be used since it is similar to the ROI index [23,24]. ...
... e Lack of property rights agreements [26,23,24]; e Complex and time-consuming federal procurement procedures [23,24]; ...
... e Lack of property rights agreements [26,23,24]; e Complex and time-consuming federal procurement procedures [23,24]; ...
... Space technologies developed via public funding should therefore offer both cross-cutting cost solutions and dual-use applications towards addressing paramount sociocultural and environmental challenges on Earth. It is also a fact that space technologies perpetually find terrestrial applications with seminal impact-economic as well as societal [7][8][9] . ESA, for example, has explicitly recognized the 'socio-economic impact of space activities'. ...
... Research and development in space exploration have consistently yielded collateral benefits, manifesting both in economic gains and societal advancements 7,9,40,48 . However, the field of SBE remains nascent 10 . ...
... This means that TTOs have to develop and shape dual identities (scientific and business), and building such legitimacy for TTOs can be challenging with academics . Funding agencies and governments are expecting greater returns on their research investment (see Bessette, 2003;Hertzfeld, 2002;Link and Scott, 2004). They now need to demonstrate to society the economic value of public investment in science, innovation and technology. ...
... For example, a study by Amesse et al (2002) cited some of the overall economic affects, both direct and indirect, of the Canadian space programme as private firm sales, new technology and knowledge, new research consortia, industry standards and use of physical infrastructure. In studying the returns of NASA's lifescience technology transfer, Hertzfeld (2002) found economic returns that centred on commercial applications, as well as extending the product lines Mueller (2006), based on her study of West German regions, found that 'the proposed knowledge transmission channels -entrepreneurship and university-industry relations -increase the permeability of the knowledge filter, thus improving regional economic performance'. For R&D projects with universities, geographical proximity matters when the lead time to market is short, but does not when the R&D projects are long-term (Broström, 2010). ...
Technical Report
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roject coordinators fulfil several roles and responsibilities alongside their primary scientific focus. As boundary spanners between science and industry they have an invisible central role in the delivery of innovation from publicly funded science through technology transfer. In this report we review present empirical literature relating to the role and responsibilities of principal coordinators and we propose a contingency model for studying the effectiveness of project coordinators. The roles, responsibilities and activities of the PC are identified. In our contingency model the threshold roles and responsibilities are identified in the PC as: (i) research leader, (ii) research allocator and controller, (iii) innovation facilitator, (iv) boundary spanner, and (v) project coordinator and manager. These are developed into expanded PC role capabilities that include: (i) research strategist, (ii) economic agent, (iii) technology and knowledge transfer enabler, (iv) collaboration and value creation leader, and (v) manager and governor.
... Another study using a methodology and a degree in details similar to BETA is of Herzfeld. 17 The author analyzes the experience of 15 firms operating in the life sciences area under NASA contracts and quantifies 2 types of effects. The first one is the same type of indirect effects computed by BETA and is called ''Benefits to company'' ( Table 1 in ref. 17 ). ...
... 17 The author analyzes the experience of 15 firms operating in the life sciences area under NASA contracts and quantifies 2 types of effects. The first one is the same type of indirect effects computed by BETA and is called ''Benefits to company'' ( Table 1 in ref. 17 ). The second The denominator of the spin-off factor in this report is the annual government funding on space activities, via ESA, or national schemes. ...
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... A study aiming to quantify the benefits of NASA life science spin-offs was able to identify some of the generated financial profits, nevertheless also highlighted the difficulties of measuring this [7]. It was pointed out there is no ''one model fits all'' [7], and cases should be analyzed on an individual basis. ...
... A study aiming to quantify the benefits of NASA life science spin-offs was able to identify some of the generated financial profits, nevertheless also highlighted the difficulties of measuring this [7]. It was pointed out there is no ''one model fits all'' [7], and cases should be analyzed on an individual basis. ...
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Humanity will be faced with an important number of future challenges, including an expansion of the lifespan, a considerable increase of the population (estimated 9 billion by 2050) and a depletion of resources. These factors could trigger an increase of chronic diseases and various other health concerns that would bear a heavy weight on finances worldwide. Scientific advances can play an important role in solving a number of these problems, space technology; in general, can propose a panoply of possible solutions and applications that can make life on Earth easier and better for everyone. Satellites, Earth Observation, the International Space Station (ISS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) may not be the first tools that come to mind when thinking of improving health, yet there are many ways in which ESA and its programmes contribute to the health care arena. The research focuses on quantifying two ESA spin-offs to provide an initial view on how space can contribute to worldwide health. This quantification is part of the present strategy not only to show macroeconomic return factors for space in general, but also to identify and describe samples of ‘best practice’ type of examples close to the general public's interest. For each of the ‘best practices’ the methodology takes into account the cost of the space hardware/software, a number of tangible and intangible benefits, as well as some logical assumptions in order to determine the potential overall returns. Some of the hindering factors for a precise quantification are also highlighted. In conclusion, the study recommends a way in which ESA's spin-offs can be taken into account early on in the development process of space programmes in order to generate higher awareness with the general public and also to provide measurable returns.
... Space has been a critical factor in the growth and development of modern economies (1)(2)(3). Positioning systems such as Global Positioning System (GPS) have significantly impacted shipping and trade (4). Remote sensing and telecommunications have enabled rapid response to natural disasters (5) and better estimates of economic activity (6,7). ...
... Amesse et al. (2002) ont eu recours à cette méthode pour identifier et évaluer les retombées économiques et technologiques indirectes sur l'industrie canadienne de deux programmes (contrats ESA et STEAR -Strategic Technologies in Automation and Robotics) mis en oeuvre par l'agence spatiale canadienne. Hertzfeld (2002) a également utilisé une méthodologie proche de celle du BETA pour estimer les retombées économiques de la R&D dans le domaine des sciences de la vie menée par la National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ...
... A joint venture typically originates from a transfer requirement shared between the transferor and transferee. Viewed from an economic standpoint, the transferor's requirement will be to expand products or services into a new market space or acquire new resources [38]. A geographic example would be modern-day China where there are a potential 1.3 billion clients [36]. ...
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... It is not uncommon that space agencies, ministries and other administrations involved in space technology transfers link with othper technology transfers offices (TTOs) in universities and the private sector. Typical policy frameworks for these transfers in OECD countries have three main objectives (Guimón and Paunov, 2019 [12]): ...
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... It is not uncommon that space agencies, ministries and other administrations involved in space technology transfers link with othper technology transfers offices (TTOs) in universities and the private sector. Typical policy frameworks for these transfers in OECD countries have three main objectives (Guimón and Paunov, 2019 [12]): ...
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... INCE the dawn of the space program there has been a healthy public debate on the merits of space exploration, both human and robotic 1,2,3,4 . These key points include beneficial spin off technologies, geopolitical advantage, national prestige, investment in the nation's skill set, and the basic human motivation for exploration. ...
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... Studies have also proposed metrics such as economic benefits (Geisler 1994) and measurement of nonmonetary benefits (Sorensen and Chambers 2008) resulting from technology transfer activities. However, use of such indirect metrics typically involve significant assumptions (Bozeman et al. 2015) and require a long term study to access the benefits resulting from such activities (Hertzfeld 2002). Overall, there are few, if any, measurements that are consistently applied; and although some articles do propose to use number of employees or amount of research funding in dollars as denominators to create comparable ratios, this has not been widely applied. ...
Article
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Nearly 40 years ago Congress laid the foundation for federal agencies to engage in technology transfer activities with a primary goal to make federal laboratory research outcomes widely available. Since then, agencies generally rely on universal metrics such as licensing income and number of patents to measure the benefit of their technology transfer program. However, such metrics do not address the requirements set by the current and previous administrations, which require agencies to better gauge the effectiveness and return on investment of their technology programs. Here we evaluate two metrics, filing ratio and transfer rate, and empirically evaluate these metrics using data from Department of the Navy’s most transactionally active laboratory, as well as recently released agency-reported data available from the FY 2015 annual technology transfer report (15 U.S.C. Section 3710). We additionally propose other federally-relevant metrics for which agency data are not currently available. Results presented here indicate that these modernized metrics may potentially fulfill the requirements set by executive guidance. The study findings also point out to other metrics that are relevant to practitioners, program managers, and policymakers in the evaluation of technology transfer programs for better measurement of effectiveness, efficiency, and return on investment.
... Collaboration with big-science centres is a source of high-level technical-knowledge inflows ( Autio et al., 2004), enabling the development of innovative products and technologies with superior characteristics (e.g. Byckling et al., 2000;Hertzfeld, 2002). At the same time, the role of big-science centres in the internationalisation processes of SMEs has been overlooked in the literature. ...
Article
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... Among included articles, technology transfer of space technologies to earth appears to be an important topic [470,429,[471][472][473][474][475][476][477][478][479]481]. An example is the successful reprogramming of neural networks initially trained to identify craters or incoming missiles in space toward the detection of cancer-associated breast microcalcifications on mammograms [478,479,474]. ...
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... Benefits that could be incorporated include product spin-offs (memory foam, freeze-dried food, DustBusters, etc.) and knowledge acquisition from technology transfer of NASA projects. For instance, fifteen companies were surveyed to determine their perceptions of their organizations' economic return on technology transfer from NASA's Life Science Project, stating over $1.5 billion in value-added returns from successful spin-offs from the NASA project 24 . Technological acceleration 25 is another benefit captured in previous work; NASA research and technology development accelerates industry adoption and production above normal levels. ...
... Space biology has potential applications in medicine, biotechnology, molecular synthesis, crop improvement, alternate agricultural systems, nutrition and food preservation and improving environmental quality and sustainability of life. Technological development can lead to space product development and technology transfer benefiting society (Hertzfeld 2002). Research in space biology may provide solutions to common problems such as shrinking productive land, low crop yield, pollution and vector-borne diseases. ...
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... This has meant that TTOs have had to develop and shape dual identities-scientific and business-and building such legitimacy for TTOs can be challenging for academics . Funding agencies and governments are expecting greater returns for their research investment (see Bessette 2003;Hertzfeld 2002;Link and Scott 2004). They now need to demonstrate to society the economic value of public investment in science, innovation and technology. ...
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... 1) Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with organisations have been used in evaluations all around the world to collect data on the impact of space-related funding (Bach et al., 2002;Cohendet, 1997;Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation, 2008;Hertzfeld, 2002;Prognos AG, 2008). Face-to-face interviews were held in this evaluation with twenty key players of Swiss space industry and space research. ...
Research
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... Regarding qualitative approaches, Bozeman (2000) proposed a contingent effectiveness model of technology transfer that takes into consideration the parties to technology transfer with multiple goals and criteria of effectiveness. Hertzfeld (2002) suggested a cost/benefit approach to assess the value added to a company that participates in a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research program, by identifying a number of positive outputs and creating measurements for them. Stephens et al. (2008) introduced a framework, Socio-Political Evaluation of Energy Deployment, which integrates analyses of laws, regulations, institutions, policies, etc. Regarding quantitative approaches, Chapman (1994) presented several outputs for measuring the effects of technology transfer such as the number of jobs created, increase in revenues, new products, etc. Bessette (2003) proposed a return-on-investment approach to calculate the profitability of university-based research. ...
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... More specifically, the aim was to understand whether there was a structure specifically dedicated to programs for technology transfer, and if so, which programs have been carried out, the approach to transfers adopted, and the economic and financial resources allotted to the transfers. These elements can serve as an important indicator of an agency's commitment to promoting and developing the industrial system [20,31]. ...
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The aim of this paper is to identify the basic strategic orientations of some of the world's main space agencies. This study focuses on the Brazilian, French, European, Japanese, Indian and Russian agencies. Basic strategic orientations indicate the real space exploration objectives of large countries. This is useful because there are some ambiguous areas in the formal strategic documents published by these agencies. The results highlight the common objectives of the agencies studied, which is to have an important role in international political leadership even considering the specific objectives related to the economic and social contexts of the individual countries.
... In addition to this, a series of studies addressed the economic return emanating from NASA's space science programs. 123 Even though this specific impact is beyond the scope of this study, it is indicative of impacts as they relate to public goods. ...
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The paper reports research into the transfer of technology typically used in the construction of scientific satellites. Four case studies are analyzed to clarify some basic mechanisms of the transfer of space technology to the industrial system. The paper finds that the technologies analyzed in the construction of satellites for the most part stem from the integration of technical processes already known in various industrial sectors; the use of these processes in space involves their substantial strengthening and upgrading in terms of performance; and this upgrading permits them to return to industrial sectors that use the technological advances acquired for coping with complex problems in the space sector. This research has helped validate some of the determinants of technology transfer already noted in the literature, while increasing the number and content of these. Useful indications emerge for policy makers and agents involved in technology transfer programs.
... Space biology has potential applications in medicine, biotechnology, molecular synthesis, crop improvement, alternate agricultural systems, nutrition and food preservation and improving environmental quality and sustainability of life. Technological development can lead to space product development and technology transfer benefiting society (Hertzfeld 2002). Research in space biology may provide solutions to common problems such as shrinking productive land, low crop yield, pollution and vector-borne diseases. ...
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Thesis
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Using how if we lived on satellite theory as an example, this paper examines methodological questions that are generally applicable to all qualitative methods. How should the usual scientific be reinterpreted for qualitative research? How should researchers would prove based on this theory in their research? What evaluative criteria should be used in this research project? We propose that the criteria should be adapted to fit the hypothesis, procedures of the method. We argue that other qualitative researchers might be similarly specific about the research.
Article
Significance Over the past century, space activities have required the creation of ground-breaking technologies to cope with an unfavorable environment. Although there is anecdotal evidence that these advances are relevant to our lives, formal research on the impact of space missions is still scarce. In order to address the existing gap, this research examines the economic effects of space-related activities on Earth. We present an empirical assessment of the effects of space missions from the 1960s to the present day using a model in which space activity has an impact on technology. We provide evidence that space activities are likely to have produced positive economic spillovers on Earth.
Article
The possibility of SETI finding extraterrestrial biological or technological signatures is becoming less hypothetical. Social science scholarship has responded with a growing literature that examines the possible social, cultural, and political implications of a major SETI discovery. This article extends this social science perspective by speculating about politics at the other end of contact. I argue that the questions of whether another civilization would apply resources to SETI like efforts, who they would wish to contact, and their motivations for searching for intelligent life, are essentially questions about the politics of possible but unknown societies. I attempt to show the utility of this comparative politics perspective by applying it to Fermi's Paradox. The perspective of intercivilizational politics reframes the paradox as a problem of collective action and avoids two problematic assumptions widely found in the literature. First, it is probably impossible to predict what would be rational for extraterrestrial intelligence without knowing their appetite for risk. Second, if an extraterrestrial civilization shares similar patterns to our development, then many proposed solutions to Fermi's Paradox fall into the trap of assuming a unified rational actor. Instead, it is likely that possible interlocutors represent different political and social institutions from across an exocivilization. In addition, many famous commentators have argued that contact with another civilization would likely be disastrous for the less developed party, presumably us. So far, political scientists have added to this discussion by elaborating further on the possible dangers of a SETI discovery. However, I argue that reframing SETI efforts within the context of intercivilizational politics mitigates some of these concerns.
Chapter
As nations and commercial entities expand further and more permanently into outer space, governance of that realm as a global commons becomes both more important and more difficult. This chapter addresses the question of what the future of space exploration and exploitation will look like as technology continues to outpace regulation and governance and more nations and actors gain access to its resources. How will nations function under old treaties and norms when faced with technical challenges or the acquisition of resources brought on by space debris or asteroid mining? The past governance of other areas of the global commons, especially the oceans, provide insight into the former question, while the history of the developed world’s territorial expansion sheds light on the latter. This chapter asks if the future will resemble the utopian ideals of Star Trek or will it devolve into a Star Wars-esque past of colonialism and profiteering and begins the work of finding an answer.
Article
This papers analyses problems related to monitoring and evaluating social and economic impacts arising from the development of space economy, especially space technologies. Using the best practices of the European Space Agency, various approaches to creating evaluation systems are considered. Special attention is paid to the Copernicus Program, mainly to the ways of identifying, measuring, and assessing the benefits for the economy and society resulting from its implementation. This research systematizes the main types of benefits that can be monitored. The author shows that interdisciplinary approaches are essential for solving theoretical and practical problems related to obtaining reliable data for decision makers in space technologies investments. Moreover, the formation of analytical skills in identifying social impacts is necessary for experts who realize the assessment procedures.
Thesis
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The motivation behind this dissertation is to tackle the issue of rising costs and increasing complexity in space missions within the context of technology transfer, technology selection and program management. Some postulates are based on the idea that increasing design freedom and knowledge in the early lifecycle of a system can lead to a reduction in costs, the significance of which will be discussed later. The paper then analyses the terminology utilised by the space industry, as well as the effects of and factors influencing technology transfer; these are discussed for Canada & Europe in a quantified manner. The Chantramonklasri and Bar-Zakay models and an Information Processing framework is detailed. The models, framework and cases are analysed and used to form arguments and transferable characteristics. The lifecycle of a NASA space mission is detailed as well as NASA’s technology-transfer model derived from it. This model is analysed on the basis of the arguments and postulates formed along with the transferrable characteristics of the analysed models, framework and effects of technology transfer in Canada & Europe. The model is also evaluated from the perspective of optimising technology selection. Following that, techniques, some of which have been adapted, are presented. These originate from Mavris’ nine-step Technology Identification, Evaluation and Selection method. These techniques along with all the postulates, arguments and transferable characteristics are used to construct a new Technology Management Transfer and Selection process; this will be used for a newly proposed model which seeks to increase design freedom, knowledge, reduce costs and increase the effects of technology transfer, without a change in culture and neglecting the effects of legislation (not funding).
Chapter
NASA is the world’s largest civilian space and aviation engineering research agency and a showcase of U.S. technological advances. It is the true birthplace of modern space medicine, which continues to be primarily influenced by engineering requirements. This chapter brings together the historical evolution of space medicine and human factors driven by technological development and political imperatives of human space exploration. Sustaining life, minimizing health risks and chances of injury have been and continues to be the primary goals for space medicine practice. In the sixteenth century, Ramazzini (Bernardino Ramazzini. De Morbis Artificum Diatriba. Apud Guilielmum van de Water Academiiǣ Typographaphum [Publisher]. Geneva, Switzerland. 1703), the father of occupational medicine, observed that sailors on long voyages of exploration did not fare as well as those on land when afflicted by chronic disorders. His observations still apply to modern space medicine practice, which is rooted in the principles of preventive medicine. Thus, space medicine practitioners’ primary focus is on life support, food and water production systems, selection of cabin atmosphere and gas composition, hygiene, space habitat toxicology, radiation protection, and preventing infections. The principles of astronaut medical selection are to ensure “healthy” and disease-free candidates, while medical retention standards (annual clinical evaluations) and care ensures career longevity. Depending on the type and length of the space mission, certain medical conditions are considered compatible with the ability to perform assigned mission duties and a medical waiver is issued. Space medicine draws heavily on 50 years of aviation medicine knowledge and continues to be the central focus of today’s practice of “personalized medicine.” Traditionally, the knowledge underpinning space medicine practice lagged behind operational needs and remained largely empirical, relying on data from terrestrial analogs and simulations. Historically, extremely complex short duration missions to the Moon, followed by long duration low Earth orbit missions, did not permit adequate time for a systematic acquisition of biomedical knowledge base. Clinical and psychological research remained resource constrained for access to space, funding, and sufficient sample size of astronauts (the astronaut community constituted the astronaut sample size. Astronaut exposure to the space environment precluded a meaningful selection of a control group as well) due to political pressures of the “space race” and mounting costs from unexpected technological challenges. The national debate on the future of the space program, following the Apollo 17 mission, coupled with federal deficits due to the Vietnam War, resulted in significant reduction to NASA budgets, and termination of follow-on missions to the Moon. Excess Apollo program hardware was used to deploy the first U.S. space station (Skylab) and to conduct the first U.S.-Soviet collaboration in space: docking an Apollo and a Soyuz spacecraft. The U.S. investment in Skylab produced an unprecedented amount of data on the human responses to orbital long-duration space flight. The three Skylab missions constituted the most comprehensive and fundamental seminal knowledge used by all space-faring nations in designing medical support and habitability systems for human space flight. Despite the many operational and logistic challenges, and occasional in-flight crew illness, no U.S. missions resulted in an unscheduled termination, or loss of life, due to medical conditions. This in itself is a testimonial to the soundness and efficiency of the clinical infrastructure and space medicine skills and expertise evolved since the early 1960s. Budgetary and political imperatives led to periodic NASA management and programmatic reorganizations often affecting medical staff and programs. The number of NASA space medicine physicians (flight surgeons), remains small, and between 1960 and 1990 reached its peak of 35 individuals (not including astronaut physicians). Today, this small federal workforce is supplemented by military detailees and supported by contractors in the many demanding duties outlined throughout this textbook. The experimental nature of spacecraft designed by the U.S. and other space-faring nations are briefly detailed in the context of space medicine. The interaction of the environment and spacecraft design, leading to potential health risk(s) are summarily reviewed. Extravehicular systems and robotics, intended to minimize unsafe exposures, while enhancing human performance, are briefly discussed. Space tourism and evolving commercial infrastructure and the potential for space medicine practice expansion are also presented. Finally the socioeconomic, cultural, and health care impacts of space exploration are briefly addressed.
Article
The return to R&D investment and activities has been the object of a vast literature, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The aim of this overview is to present a selection of contributions to underscore the main shared findings and highlight open issues, while also providing a preliminary analysis of the returns to R&D investment in large research infrastructures (RIs) in Europe. First, a common methodological framework is distilled from the macro-literature, examining the return to R&D in aggregate terms. Then, the evaluation in the context of specific projects, mainly in large RIs, is examined, followed by the explicit consideration of externalities and spillover effects of research activities. A novel empirical analysis of European RIs is also presented, based on a novel data set, to highlight trends and suggest new avenues for the evaluation of the rate of return to investments in research infrastructures, using both a cost effectiveness ratio and a bibliometric citation count as metrics to evaluate the return to R&D investment in these facilities. Directions for future research are sketched in the concluding section.
Chapter
At the turn of the twenty-first century, commercial space business began an impressive expansion across existing markets and developed new and unforeseen ones. Commercial telecommunications and weather satellites were the first products of this sector.
Chapter
National governments consistently implement an array of public sector entrepreneurship policies and activities, seeking to generate further economic activity and create new networks and market opportunities that reduce market risks and uncertainties for market-based technology exploiters. This means that scientists taking on the role of being a publicly funded principal investigator (PI) is at the nexus of science, government and industry, and can have a significant influence and impact on shaping and delivering outcomes of public sector entrepreneurship policies and activities. Within the emerging public sector entrepreneurship literature (see Leyden and Link 2015; Link and Link 2009), we argue that publicly funded PIs as key public sector entrepreneurship transformative agents, through scientific novelty and originality involving some creative and innovative processes that can be exploited for opportunities with good market or societal potential. Publicly funded PIs are key agents of what Leyden and Link (2015:14) define as public sector entrepreneurship:
Article
Since the 1960s, various methods have been used by major space agencies to measure the economic returns to space-related research and development. A number of approaches have been taken, including microeconomic analyses of specific technologies and macroeconomic modeling of long-term productivity gains. Most of these approaches have estimated very positive returns to investments in space. The problem is that these approaches have generally been carried out in an economic context, which no longer characterizes today's open economy, this calling for new ways to measure the tangible benefits in return for the considerable sums invested. The way to conceive technological transfer, R&D policies, collaborative modes, and evaluation procedures have changed in an open context. Such a context offers an opportunity to revisit and update the main methods and tools used to measure the economic, societal, and environmental benefits from space (in particular with regard to industry–government–university partnerships, user communities, collaboration within and between these communities, and so on). The wide variety of assumptions behind existing models often limits the range of results. Moreover, many controversies remain as to the interpretation of these results. In this article, we present the preliminary results of a three-year study, carried out on behalf of the Canadian Space Agency, on the state of the Canadian space sector. We focus on the limitations of the methodologies used to assess the indirect economic and societal impacts of public investment in space in an open innovation context. We present a new perspective on innovation in space in which innovation is not so much driven by spin-offs from the space industry, as it is by spin-ins from various terrestrial industries. This finding impacts strongly the way we measure indirect economic impacts and calls for new metrics. These new metrics should be helpful for governments and national space agencies to support long-term planification of public investments in the space sector, in order to protect and develop a national competitive advantage in niche markets with an emphasis in commercialization of space technologies on Earth and space applications.
Conference Paper
Since NASA's creation, technologies developed to advance NASA missions have found secondary applications, leading to products, services, and processes that create jobs, generate profits, improve efficiencies, and even save and improve lives. Despite a general consensus that these "spinoff" benefits are prevalent, no consistent methodology, analytic framework, or sustainable system has been established to quantify their benefits using standardized measurements. Over the years many efforts have attempted to quantify benefits. Each, however, has had limitations including scope, data integrity, and sustainability. NASA has historically recorded its benefits anecdotally in its annual Spinoff report with qualitative discussions and ad hoc quantification, but has not developed a systematic method for capturing quantifiable benefits. This paper describes a new approach that NASA is developing to systematically and routinely capture quantitative benefits from its Spinoff stories each year, using a framework that is sustainable over time. Surveying approximately 200 commercialized technologies recently featured in Spinoff, NASA has developed a suite of standard categories that can be used to quantify benefits. By surveying firms represented by those stories in Spinoff, NASA was able to collect additional quantitative data retrospectively. NASA will use these new categories to collect and standardize reporting data each year, as the stories are collected and developed. While not comprehensive of all benefits generated by the Nation's investment in space research and technology, this new analytic framework provides a sustainable and consistent source of data from the top technology transfer successes published in Spinoff each year, with the data coming directly from the firms that are commercializing NASA technologies. The new quantification categories include: jobs created; revenue generated; productivity and efficiency improvements; lives saved/not lost; and lives improved.
Article
The purpose of our study is to review and synthesize the rapidly evolving literature on technology transfer effectiveness. Our paper provides a lens into relatively recent work, focusing particularly on empirical studies of US technology transfer conducted within the last 15 years. In doing so, we update and extend the Contingent Effectiveness Model of Technology Transfer developed by Bozeman (2000). Specifically, we include the growing interest in social and public value oriented technology transfer and, thus, the contingent effectiveness model is expanded to consider this literature. We categorize studies according their approaches to measuring effectiveness, draw conclusions regarding the current state of technology transfer evaluation, and offer recommendations for future studies.
Article
Many space-related impact studies have been carried out in the past, but there is no conclusive, comprehensive evaluation of the economic and social effects of public investments in space. Such evaluations are not easy to perform, for several reasons: the space sector is not a recognised category in official statistics; social benefits, which are likely to be very important, are hard to assess; and impacts from R&D are complex and occur in the long term. However, important steps can be made towards better evaluation of impacts. The full set of impacts of space investments may be simultaneously evaluated from both a ‘bottom-up’ and a ‘top-down’ perspective. In the bottom-up perspective, each effect is measured separately, while the top-down perspective provides a framework for integrating the effects. Although both perspectives have their own advantages and drawbacks, combining them yields both detailed and integrated results. Our discussion of the bottom up approach starts by identifying an extensive list of impacts. Next, data availability issues and methodological improvements are identified, leading to recommendations on programmes to collect data and perform case studies. Finally, suggestions are made for presenting impacts in the form of a scoreboard. The core of the top-down evaluation methodology proposed is social cost benefit analysis. Effects are weighted, where possible, on the basis of observed market prices or other estimations of monetary values. For effects that are hard to measure or monetize, multi-criteria analysis can be applied using surveys and expert opinion. Our core recommendations are to clearly define the space sector, to collect additional data, and to use improved methodologies. Social, strategic and environmental impacts deserve special attention, aiming at a more comprehensive coverage of impacts. Comprehensive evaluations can contribute to more upport for space expenditures.
Article
As triple-helix like research funding is growing in popularity, the need for evaluating the success of such programs is growing. During the last 30 years, a number of attempts have been made to assess whether certain technology funding has been successful or not. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of these attempts as well as suggest that we must look beyond simple valuemeters as patent creation rate in order to fully understand the process of technology transfer.
A Cost Benefit Analysis of Selected Technology Utilization Office ProgramsMeasuring and Managing Spinoffs: The Case of the European Space Agency
  • R J Anderson
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Quantifying the Benefits to the National Economy from Secondary Applications of NASA Technology
  • Mathematica
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Mathematica, Inc., 1976, 'Quantifying the Benefits to the National Economy from Secondary Applications of NASA Technology,' NASA CR-2674, Princeton, March.
Measuring and Managing Spinoffs: The Case of the European Space Agency
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An Exploration of Benefits from NASA “Spinoff”
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Quantifying the Benefits to the National Economy from Secondary Applications of NASA Technology,’ NASA CR-2674
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