Official Nasa Communication 98-121

Don Nolan-Proxmire Headquarters, Washington, DC (Phone: 202/358-1983)

July 10, 1998

RELEASE: 98-121 COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS AWARDED FOR THREE NEW NASA BUSINESS INCUBATORS NASA announced the award of cooperative agreements to three entities, each of which will establish a hightechnology business incubator at one of three NASA Centers: the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD; the Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA; and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, combined with the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA. The award made by Goddard is to a team led by the Maryland Economic Development Corporation. Team members include the Emerging Technology Center of the Baltimore Development Corporation; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the Johns Hopkins University; the Morgan State University (Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. School of Engineering); the University of Maryland; The Abell Foundation; and the CAN Company. Langley awarded the second new high-technology business incubator to the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology. Team members include Christopher Newport University; Hampton Roads Partnership; Hampton Roads Technology Council; Hampton University; Mentor Technology Ventures; Norfolk State University; Small Business Development Center of Hampton Roads; and the College of William and Mary. The third new high-technology business incubator award was made by the NASA Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and by the Dryden Flight Research Center to the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA. The university will build upon the ongoing success of the Pomona Technology Center, an independently developed incubator, located in the technology park on university land. These business incubators will provide U.S. start-up or small existing high-technology firms and U.S. educational institutions with a wide array of critical business

development support services for the primary purpose of commercially applying NASA technology. Each new business incubator will receive funding from NASA in the amount of $400,000 per year for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, and will in turn match (or exceed) NASA's contribution through cash or in-kind funding from non-federal sources. In addition to the establishment of these three new business incubators at NASA centers, funds also were provided, based on program guidelines, to the six existing NASA incubators to enhance services to incubator firms. The existing NASA-sponsored incubators include: the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA; the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; the Kennedy Space Center, FL; the Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH; the Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, AL; and the Stennis Space Center, MS. With the addition of the three new NASA business incubators to the existing six, NASA now has in place a nationwide resource to expand the growing high-technology interests of small businesses and educational institutions. Further information on these awards can be obtained through the following NASA center E-mail addresses: Ames Research Center [email protected] Dryden Flight Research Center [email protected] Goddard Space Flight Center [email protected] JPL (NASA Management Office) [email protected] Johnson Space Center [email protected] Kennedy Space Center [email protected] Langley Research Center [email protected] Lewis Research Center [email protected] Marshall Space Flight Center [email protected] Stennis Space Center [email protected] -end-