Commercializing Federal R&D: Secrets to Startup Success Janeya Griffin NASA s Armstrong Flight Research Center Kraettli L. Epperson Vigilant Aerospace Systems
Agenda What is FlightHorizon? Vetting federal technologies for commercial potential Finding relevant federal innovations Validating market potential Negotiating a win-win deal Building a market-ready product Cultivating the market Conclusions and lessons learned
What Is FlightHorizon? Detect-and-avoid for piloted and autonomous drones Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) Exclusively licensed (U.S. #9,405,005) Fully implemented software with transponder integration Tablet- or laptop-based Helps meet FAA requirements Years of flight testing Growing market demand: Industrial flying
Vetting Federal Technologies for Commercial Potential
Why NASA Patents IP Vetting Federal Technologies Space program technologies may have other applications
Evaluating Commercial Potential Market research Does the technology meet a market need? Prior art search How does it compare to what exists? Level of development What is required to get this technology to market? Vetting Federal Technologies Market Need
NASA s Marketing Strategies Vetting Federal Technologies Active outreach Conferences Online postings http://technology.nasa.gov
How Vigilant Aerospace Found This Tech Conferences Publications Word-of-Mouth (friends at NASA and FLC)
Validating the Market Initial screening Technical feasibility (NDA) Market applicability Competitiveness Disruptiveness Problem-Solution statement
Validating the Market
Validating the Market Average 5.3 incidents per day 250 INCIDENTS 200 150 100 46% 50 0
Problem-Solution Statement Millions of drones No air traffic control No detect-and-avoid Solution exists and is viable IP protection and patent Uses existing infrastructure Meets likely regulatory hurdles First-to-market opportunity Go-to-market strategy
Negotiating a Win-Win Deal NASA wants to help startups license technology Flexible and open to all companies Options and programs Startup NASA Evaluation license Commercial licenses Standard license with negotiable terms Some patents have preset low-cost fees and standard terms for rapid licensing Space Act Agreements for access to inventors and facilities
Negotiating a Win-Win Deal Apply for license Full business plan Full pro forma Forecast balance sheet and profit-and-loss (P&L)
Negotiating a Win-Win Deal Bidding process Critical factors Familiarity with the market and the technologies Vision for the product Vision for product-market fit Vision for the future
Negotiating a Win-Win Deal Negotiations Licensing fees and percentage rates Milestones Books and guidelines Attorney with experience
Building a Market-Ready Product
Commercialization Process Building a Market-Ready Product IP transfer: Collection of patent info, source code, documentation, notes Intake and software development setup: Agile processes Extensive software evaluation
Development Process Building a Market-Ready Product Interface updates Functional changes Small UAS, slower targets, static targets New hardware integrations New receivers, transponders Review and quality control Customer feedback Product roadmap and long-range planning Testing, testing and more testing
NASA Flight Testing: 2013 Building a Market-Ready Product
suas Demonstrator Building a Market-Ready Product
NASA Flight Testing: 2016 & 2017 Building a Market-Ready Product Testing of FlightHorizon at NASA Armstrong: Variety of aircraft ~350 encounters: Two programs FAA and FCC observers AIAA paper
Ongoing Development & Testing Building a Market-Ready Product Ongoing flight tests: 2017, 2018 New features, filters, algorithms Low-cost, highly effective Short-range DAA via settings New equipment testing and feature validation Customer demonstrations Customer flights
Cultivating the Market
NASA Outreach Contributions Cultivating the Market Success stories Awards
Recent Industry Press Cultivating the Market
Industry Presentations Cultivating the Market
Industry Outreach Cultivating the Market
Scott Simmie: The Digital Circuit Cultivating the Market In fact, some recent research on this front has been carried out using DJI products, which were successfully able to sense-and-avoid each other in test-scenarios An autonomous detectand-avoid technology has been successfully tested using DJI Phantom 4 drones in yet another important step toward a world with integrated airspace
Colin Snow: The Drone Analyst Cultivating the Market There are other solutions for aircraft identification that don t involve certificates or a digitally enabled UTM system. For example, Vigilant Aerospace completed beyond line-ofsight flight testing of its new FlightHorizon collision avoidance system for drones at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in the Mojave Desert without a complex system.
Summary NASA is a good source of innovations to be commercialized Other government agencies as well Access to innovators and facilities can be negotiated Collaborative R&D benefits both parties
Lessons Learned Do your homework Find great technologies online and at conferences Research them in-depth great online resources Look for large or rapidly growing markets and well-defined problems Hire experienced advisors Attorneys and consultants Be patient Accessing federal technology takes time Remember: You re standing on the shoulders of giants Take advantage of cooperative agreements and opportunities
Commercializing Federal R&D: Secrets to Startup Success Janeya Griffin NASA s Armstrong Flight Research Center Kraettli L. Epperson Vigilant Aerospace Systems