This booklet of success stories summarizes the NASA Glenn Research Center's accomplishments and successes by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. These success stories are the results of selecting projects that best support NASA missions and also have commercialization potential. Each success story describes the innovation accomplished, commercialization of the technology, and further applications and usages. The company name and the NASA contact person are identified to encourage further interest and communication to occur.Kim, Walter S. and Bitler, Dean W. and Prok, George M. and Metzger, Marie E. and Dreibelbis, Cindy L. and Howe, Meghan R. and Novak, George D.Glenn Research CenterNASA PROGRAMS; TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION; GOVERNMENT/INDUSTRY RELATIONS; COMMERCIALIZATION; TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Small businesses have increasingly been recognized as a source of innovation, and one way in which the Federal government encourages such innovation is through the Small Business Innovation Research program. SBIR sets aside 2.5 percent of federal agencies' R&D budgets for R&D grants to small business. Although the program's budget was nearly $1.2 billion in 1998, SBIR has been subject to relatively little outside review. As part of the STEP's ongoing project on Government-Industry Partnerships, the Board convened policymakers, academic researchers, and representatives from small business to discuss the program's history and rationale, review existing research, and identify areas for further research and program improvements.

In response to a Congressional mandate, the National Research Council conducted a review of the SBIR program at the five federal agencies with SBIR programs with budgets in excess of $100 million (DOD, NIH, NASA, DOE, and NSF). The project was designed to answer questions of program operation and effectiveness, including the quality of the research projects being conducted under the SBIR program, the commercialization of the research, and the program's contribution to accomplishing agency missions. This report describes the proposed methodology for the project, identifying how the following tasks will be carried out: 1) collecting and analyzing agency databases and studies; 2) surveying firms and agencies; 3) conducting case studies organized around a common template; and 4) reviewing and analyzing survey and case study results and program accomplishments. Given the heterogeneity of goals and procedures across the five agencies involved, a broad spectrum of evaluative approaches is recommended.

The SBIR program allocates 2.5 percent of 11 federal agencies' extramural R&D budgets to fund R&D projects by small businesses, providing approximately $2 billion annually in competitive awards. At the request of Congress, the National Academies conducted a comprehensive study of how the SBIR program has stimulated technological innovation and used small businesses to meet federal research and development needs. Drawing substantially on new data collection, this book examines the SBIR program at the Department of Defense and makes recommendations for improvements. Separate reports will assess the SBIR program at NSF, NIH, DOE, and NASA, respectively, along with a comprehensive report on the entire program.

This report is intended to help NASA program and project managers incorporate Glenn ResearchCenter Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR)/(STTR)technologies into NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) programs/projects. Other Government and commercial project managers can also find this useful. Nguyen, Hung D. and Steele, Gynelle C. Glenn Research Center WBS 471296.01.03.01