Published May 1997 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Down-to-Earth Space-Age Help for Business
Constructed at Wheeling Jesuit University with more than $13 million I added to a federal appropriations bill in 1991, the NASA-sponsored Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) has been busy making its mark on the business community in West Virginia and throughout the nation. In the few years of its operation, the NTTC can boast of successes on several fronts to help domestic businesses by providing them with access to cutting edge technologies and expertise developed at federally funded research laboratories. Since the beginning of its operations, the Center has answered more than 15,000 requests for assistance, including many from businesses looking for training to bolster their competitive position in the global marketplace. The Center has also engineered several successful partnerships between federal technology sources and private sector manufacturers, and has created and produced training programs for the U.S. Navy. In addition, the NTTC has developed NASA's first CD ROM, NASA Solutions: Sharing Aerospace Technology with America, a computer disk offering U.S. businesses and industries creative solutions to technological problems. In keeping with the mission of the NTTC, the new CD ROM, a full-color, video-based computer disk filled with NASA technological resources, is helping to bring space-age solutions within easy reach of 20th- century businesses. The new CD ROM contains information about 19,500 technologies available for commercialization; 600 technology transfer success stories; and 15,000 contracting opportunities. Users can also retrieve information from the disk about the NASA Commercial Technology Network, comprised of NASA's 10 field centers, six regional technology transfer centers, and the NTTC. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin described the CD ROM project as "the result of many innovative efforts to make NASA technologies available to U.S. industry quickly and easily." NTTC representatives report that the disk caused a stir at Technology 2006, NASA's commercial technologies trade show in Anaheim, California, where vendors stood in line to secure a copy. More than 5,000 promotional copies of the CD ROM were distributed by the NTTC to interested parties from across the U.S., and, in response to its positive reception, the NTTC is currently updating the disk in preparation to make it available for wider circulation. As illustrated by the success of its CD ROM, the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center is fulfilling its mission to provide useful assistance to domestic businesses to help make America more competitive in the world marketplace, to strengthen our national economy, and to help create jobs. May 21, 1997