The Space Race competition is a new initiative organized by the Center for Advanced Innovation (CAI) in order incentivize start-ups to take NASA patents for new technologies and apply them to real world problems. The CAI is a non-profit organization based in Bethesda and directed by Rosemarie Truman.
With this initiative, NASA and the CAI hope to foster the creation of new start-up companies that can adopt and commercialize existing NASA technology. Teams from many prestigious universities will compete for the grand prize of seed money given to the teams with the best technology application ideas and business plan.
One of these teams is Genetoo – A promising startup semifinalists at the SPACE-RACE.
The NASA technology Genetoo has adapted was originally designed to modify the surface of a metallic material through laser ablation patterns and chemical modifications in order to reduce insect adhesion to metallic surfaces and obtain a more laminar flow of air over the wings of an aircraft. In short, this technology was designed to make flying more efficient.
This technology was originally imagined to have applications in the aerospace, marine, wind generation and automotive industries, but Genetoo has taken this technology in a whole other direction.
Genetoo has successfully taken a NASA technology applied it towards the healthcare field. This is an interesting innovation that can potentially have a large impact for medical field.
At this time, the Space Race competition is only heating up as teams proceed towards the final rounds of the competition. Genetoo will be there every step of the way in order to win and improve the world with this innovation.