During holiday down time, I try to indulge in a variety of relaxing activities – eating foods I shouldn’t, starting puzzles I’ll probably never finish, and reading as many books as my kids’ attention spans will permit. The Thanksgiving break saw me finish ‘The Astronaut Wives’ Club by Lilly Koppel. While not the best written book I’ve ever read, it did offer an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of women who were thrust into the media spotlight thanks to their husbands’ life-changing career choices.
No sooner did I finish that than I came across news of China launching its first lunar mission, including the Jade Rabbit rover, and NASA’s launch of its technology transfer ‘Super Tool.’ As NASA explains in the press release, “The QuickLaunch licensing tool provides access to a select portfolio of NASA technologies for the purpose of licensing and commercial development.” Daniel Lockney, NASA’s technology transfer program executive, adds that the tool “will enhance our efforts to transfer more NASA technologies to American industry and U.S. consumers in a timely manner.”
Of the 38 technologies currently available for quick licensing, a few may lend themselves to innovative healthcare IT:
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
* Auditory Alert Systems with Enhanced Detectability
This auditory alert system uses spatial modulation to improve the detectability of an alert signal above the background sound level without a startle effect.
Potential HIT Innovation: Battling alert fatigue
* Method for Selective Thermal Ablation
This invention focuses the microwave heating to specific areas within the human body by properly phasing several antennas in a single antenna while minimizing the heating effects to other adjacent areas of the human body. The patent is the result of applying NASA microwave antenna technology to medical treatments on earth.
Potential HIT Innovation: Based on my limited research, this could be incorporated into existing thermal ablation cancer treatments.
* Visual Instrument Sensor Organ Replacement (VISOR)
The VISOR device converts visual signals to audibly perceptible signals, and provides the ability to sense beyond the human visible light range.
Potential HIT Innovation: According to TechBriefs.com, the VISOR device was developed to augment NASA’s current state-of-the-art head-mounted (helmet) display systems, so it seems this technology might lend itself to Google Glass-type applications.
It’s interesting to note that, at least in the case of NASA, the government seems to be helping innovation along by offering this fast-track technology transfer tool.
Have you seen any other technology transfer and licensing programs that are out of this world? Any that have the potential to be real game changers when it comes to healthcare IT? Please let me know via the comments below.
