News
A fruitful program that spun NASA Glenn technology into Ohio business will die on the vine unless more money is found, frustrated business leaders say.
The Glenn Alliance for Technology Exchange, known as GATE, has no prospects for funding, after expending a $3.2 million congressional earmark.
The money seeded efforts to spin off NASA Glenn Research Center technology to eight small, regional companies and to spur research and development of technologies that promise commercial success.
"Quite frankly, it was the only initiative we had in Cleveland that was about transfer of technology from NASA," said Carol Caruso, senior vice president for advocacy at the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the area's largest chamber of commerce. "We will miss it and need to find a way to keep it going."
GATE was borne of budget anxiety.
Federal budgeters were cutting technology-transfer efforts from NASA early in the decade. In 2003, tech transfer was lopped entirely from NASA Glenn's budget, said Kathleen Needham, chief of the tech-transfer office at NASA Glenn.
Much of that funding has since been restored, she said. But at the time, business leaders lobbied then-U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine for an earmark to keep NASA Glenn technology spinning to Ohio companies.
Under the program, NASA Glenn, the Ohio Aerospace Institute and the Battelle Memorial Institute aspired to accelerate tech transfer to a region hungry for innovation and high-tech jobs.
GATE awarded $800,000 to eight Northeast Ohio companies for collaborative research with NASA Glenn and introduced 30-plus companies to NASA Glenn's technologies.
The program also allowed NASA Glenn to carry out $900,000 in technology research and development and leveraged $800,000 more in investments from the private sector, NASA Glenn officials reported.
GATE resulted in at least 10 new jobs and numerous new products and processes.
In one case, a $100,000 GATE award helped Innovative Engineering and Consulting, a Brook Park company, diversify its line of thermal-imaging cameras.
The NASA technology enhances a camera's ability to distinguish heat sources, said Chief Executive Rick Pettegrew.
It can be used by military and safety forces for night surveillance or scanning a burning building, the company reported.
GATE-related work allowed Innovative Engineering to add three more workers, Pettegrew said. Another GATE program encouraged innovation "platforms," on which NASA Glenn, businesses and universities commercialize products around a specific technology.
In one example, strong, lightweight materials called X-Aerogels, developed at NASA Glenn, are being developed for insulation, fuel cell membranes and absorbents. Parker Hannifin Corp. in Cleveland is working with NASA Glenn and the University of Akron on a manufacturing prototype. That effort will continue, officials said.
The Glenn Alliance for Technology Exchange, known as GATE, has no prospects for funding, after expending a $3.2 million congressional earmark.
The money seeded efforts to spin off NASA Glenn Research Center technology to eight small, regional companies and to spur research and development of technologies that promise commercial success.
"Quite frankly, it was the only initiative we had in Cleveland that was about transfer of technology from NASA," said Carol Caruso, senior vice president for advocacy at the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the area's largest chamber of commerce. "We will miss it and need to find a way to keep it going."
GATE was borne of budget anxiety.
Federal budgeters were cutting technology-transfer efforts from NASA early in the decade. In 2003, tech transfer was lopped entirely from NASA Glenn's budget, said Kathleen Needham, chief of the tech-transfer office at NASA Glenn.
Much of that funding has since been restored, she said. But at the time, business leaders lobbied then-U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine for an earmark to keep NASA Glenn technology spinning to Ohio companies.
Under the program, NASA Glenn, the Ohio Aerospace Institute and the Battelle Memorial Institute aspired to accelerate tech transfer to a region hungry for innovation and high-tech jobs.
GATE awarded $800,000 to eight Northeast Ohio companies for collaborative research with NASA Glenn and introduced 30-plus companies to NASA Glenn's technologies.
The program also allowed NASA Glenn to carry out $900,000 in technology research and development and leveraged $800,000 more in investments from the private sector, NASA Glenn officials reported.
GATE resulted in at least 10 new jobs and numerous new products and processes.
In one case, a $100,000 GATE award helped Innovative Engineering and Consulting, a Brook Park company, diversify its line of thermal-imaging cameras.
The NASA technology enhances a camera's ability to distinguish heat sources, said Chief Executive Rick Pettegrew.
It can be used by military and safety forces for night surveillance or scanning a burning building, the company reported.
GATE-related work allowed Innovative Engineering to add three more workers, Pettegrew said. Another GATE program encouraged innovation "platforms," on which NASA Glenn, businesses and universities commercialize products around a specific technology.
In one example, strong, lightweight materials called X-Aerogels, developed at NASA Glenn, are being developed for insulation, fuel cell membranes and absorbents. Parker Hannifin Corp. in Cleveland is working with NASA Glenn and the University of Akron on a manufacturing prototype. That effort will continue, officials said.
