Paper Session I-A - Technology-Based Business Incubators as a Means of Commercialization and Technology Transfer

Paper Session I-A - Technology-Based Business Incubators as a Means of Commercialization and Technology Transfer

Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel

The United States funds research and development of technology in many areas. Some of this R&D has narrow application but some also has commercial application. The Government has developed a number of innovative methods of transferring technology from government laboratories and uses to the commercial arena. One of those approaches, the technology-based incubator, currently is being implemented at Kennedy Space Center. Small businesses and entrepreneurs who become tenants of incubators receive business management assistance in developing their technologies for market. The Florida/NASA Business Incubation Center (FNBIC) is co-sponsored by NASA, the State of Florida and Brevard Community College. FNBIC provides unique help to its tenants by giving them access to NASA technology, either for licensing a NASA technology for further development as a commercial product, or by assisting the tenants in obtaining information from NASA experts in developing the tenants technologies.