As Chief of Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships Program, I would like to thank you for reading this report on our 2003 successes and how we achieved them. As you might know, 2003 has been a year of exciting change for NASA’s technology transfer efforts. We refocused our goals and set new standards for excellence in evaluating our performance. Our goals now are stated as:

• To form partnerships with industry and academia to develop new technology that supports Enterprise programs
  
  
• To commercialize and transfer NASA technology to U.S. industry, enhancing NASA’s technology and commercial objectives

These ambitions might be summarized as our “spin-in” and “spin-out” goals.

• Spin-in: Industry, academia, and other government labs serve as valuable resources for NASA Enterprise programs. Often their technologies can be adapted to address space mission needs, allowing NASA to achieve its goals faster and more efficiently. Similarly, technologies developed at one NASA Field Center for a specific project might be widely applicable to other Enterprise programs.
  
  
• Spin-out: Space program technologies often can benefit other industries and play an important role in the U.S. economy. Although the structure of our economy has changed dramatically since NASA’s founding in 1958, the value and applicability of our R&D activities to the economy have remained constant. Whether NASA works in tandem with private industry or the commercial sector turns to NASA for technological assistance, aerospace technologies have found their way into new products and services. As you will see in this report, Goddard’s Innovative Partnerships Program already is working toward—and achieving—spin-in as well as spin-out successes. And in 2004 we expect these successes to increase further. For more information on how to participate in our success, please contact us.

Sincerely,

Nona Cheeks
Chief, Innovative Partnerships Program
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center