- NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center: A Hub of Innovation and Collaboration
- Located in Greenbelt, Maryland, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is a focal point for scientists and engineers developing advanced technologies to support NASA’s diverse missions. These innovations often extend their utility beyond space exploration. The Strategic Partnerships Office (SPO) at Goddard is instrumental in linking industry needs with NASA’s technological advancements, ensuring these innovations are transferred to the private sector while protecting NASA’s intellectual property rights.
- The Process of Innovation and Transfer
- Goddard’s inventors work in tandem with SPO, disclosing their innovations and providing comprehensive details. SPO assesses each technology for commercial potential and collaborates with Goddard’s Office of Patent Counsel to identify technologies suitable for patenting. This process opens doors for companies to explore patented and patent-pending technologies, evaluating their potential for licensing. Numerous licensed technologies from Goddard have evolved into successful commercial products, widely known as ‘spinoffs’.
- Exploring Goddard’s Technological Portfolio
- Please see below for the availability of the portfolio of technologies ready for licensing and Goddard’s open-source software catalog. This catalog includes a range of protected technologies across various fields such as aeronautics, communications, electrical/electronics, environment, health, medicine, biotechnology, IT and software, and instrumentation. Interested companies can navigate the licensing process through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System.
- Software Innovations at Goddard
- Over 30 percent of NASA’s reported innovations are in software. Goddard’s software supports nationwide projects in areas including business systems, project management, environmental science, data and imaging processing, and more. Some software options are available for direct download, while others require a formal request processed through Goddard’s Software Release Authority. All software listed in the NASA Software Catalog is accessible free of charge.
| Invention Catalog Category | Definition | Information Access / Availability |
|---|---|---|
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Protected IP (i.e., patented or patent pending) available for license for which marketing information has already been prepared to showcase benefits and applications (often driven by the technologies having been announced at a trade show or marketed to target audiences based upon existing industry interest). | Expanded details available (e.g., technology brochure) in addition to patent or patent application |
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Software that is available for use subject to GSFC’s software release policies. | Software list available |
Note: Protected IP implies technology that is patented or patent pending.
Parties interested in GSFC technology can also browse or search our full catalog of intellectual property. More recently disclosed intellectual property that is not yet patent pending can often be review under non-disclosure agreement per special request. For questions, please email Scott Leonardi robert.s.leonardi@nasa.gov or Jeff Mclellan jeffery.b.mclellan@nasa.gov
.