TECHNOLOGY : NASA Conference Should Help Launch Defense Conversion
Defense conversion isn’t a dirty buzzword anymore.
The transfer of technology from government research institutions to private industry has something to offer an economy hurt by reduced military spending and the subsequent elimination of thousands of jobs.
Under a new Clinton Administration initiative, the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency last week awarded $155 million in technology reinvestment grants to scores of companies, universities and other institutions nationwide that propose to convert government-funded technology for commercial uses.
That money, part of a $464-million technology reinvestment project budget for fiscal 1993, should stir enthusiasm for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Technology 2003 conference today through Thursday at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The exhibits, open free to the public, will show examples of successful conversion efforts and tout potential opportunities for partnerships among government agencies, weapons laboratories and businesses to bring new technologies to market. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.
“All the heavenly bodies are aligned just right for defense conversion now,” said Frank E. Penaranda, director of technology transfer for NASA’s office of commercial programs. “What has changed this year is that the country has realized it needs to compete better and the federal government has to invest in technologies that are relevant to our ordinary needs.”
On display is technology--being developed by federal agencies, weapons laboratories and academics--that may have practical uses in the commercial world. One example offered by the Department of Energy is a Cybertran, a computer-controlled electric vehicle that could transport commuters at 150 m.p.h. and cost less than 20% of conventional rail service.
“This technology has been hidden from the public,” Penaranda said. “We intend to open the defense industry from a mystery world and show the American people that the technology that builds good tanks can also build good cars.”
Irvine Sensors Corp. in Costa Mesa will get some special attention. The company will receive NASA’s Tech Briefs magazine Award of Innovation for its work using NASA money to develop technology to stack computer memory chips like pancakes. The chip stacks, which allow chip makers to pack more electronic processing power in tiny spaces, were developed in part with NASA funds and are being manufactured for commercial use by IBM.
Penaranda said that deals for business ventures can be hatched on the exhibit floor, for the technology has already been developed. But manufactured products may not appear for several years yet.
“It takes time to get to the market,” he said. “But the focus of this show is practical technologies, not pie in the sky.”
Last week, a group including Rockwell International Corp. of Seal Beach won a $15.1-million technology reinvestment grant to develop a health system that can monitor from a remote location a patient’s condition and reactions to treatment. Nearly 3,000 proposals requesting $9 billion were submitted to the project’s grant reviewers this year.
