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Assessing NASA's University Leadership Initiative (2021)

Chapter: 5 Identify Ways to Encourage ULI Proposals with Not Just New Technologies but Also Technologies That Support New Business Models in Aviation

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Suggested Citation:"5 Identify Ways to Encourage ULI Proposals with Not Just New Technologies but Also Technologies That Support New Business Models in Aviation." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Assessing NASA's University Leadership Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25996.
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Suggested Citation:"5 Identify Ways to Encourage ULI Proposals with Not Just New Technologies but Also Technologies That Support New Business Models in Aviation." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Assessing NASA's University Leadership Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25996.
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Page 24
Suggested Citation:"5 Identify Ways to Encourage ULI Proposals with Not Just New Technologies but Also Technologies That Support New Business Models in Aviation." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Assessing NASA's University Leadership Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25996.
×
Page 25
Suggested Citation:"5 Identify Ways to Encourage ULI Proposals with Not Just New Technologies but Also Technologies That Support New Business Models in Aviation." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Assessing NASA's University Leadership Initiative. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25996.
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Page 26

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5 Identify Ways to Encourage ULI Proposals with Not Just New Technologies but Also Technologies That Support New Business Models in Aviation The aviation industry has made changes to its business models over the course of history. Multiple factors such as market opportunities, customer requests, volume, and technology have driven these changes. Technologies that allowed the production of more efficient vehicles have helped shape the market. Business models for the aviation industry have moved from vertical integration to outsourcing relatively simple parts, to partnering and subcontracting for major subassemblies. A relatively recent example of change to the business model was Boeing’s 787. The market analysis showed an opportunity for a point-to-point airplane with increased payload capacity. Technology development, such as the fiber placement of composites to make large, complex parts, was an enabler. However, the real change to the business model was formation of partnerships with companies around the world to produce major sections of the airplane over the traditional vertical manufacturing model. The “aviation industry” is no longer a narrow definition—it encompasses a breadth of businesses. This can refer to a variety of platforms, their manufacturing and maintenance, or the associated operational infrastructure that is used for these platforms. Because this industry is so broad, a myriad of technologies are being developed to improve or transform the aviation industry. NASA ARMD’s strategic research thrusts cover these areas at a high level and are broad enough to be very inclusive. NASA’s solicitations clearly call for proposals that are aligned with the NASA strategic thrusts and other topics that have an important impact on the strategic thrusts, such as the mega-drivers. FINDING: ULI project selection is aligned with the strategic thrusts and the additional topics that are in the solicitation. One goal of ULI is that research projects will be transitioned from the conceptual level to practical applications for the aviation industry or the government. Transitioning technology can include creation of a new product line, transitioning all or part of a project, or impacting the direction of aviation. These transitions can occur in industry or ARMD. Although the transition has always been stated in the ULI goals, only after Round 1 were viable transition paths for the research products or technologies required 23

24 ASSESSING NASA’S UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE as part of the proposals. There is also a requirement for growing levels of validation, integration, and technical maturity—all of which are important in the transitioning of any technology. For any business to consider utilizing these technologies or for them to have an impact on existing business models, both technology readiness levels (TRLs) and manufacturing readiness levels (MRLs) need to be defined. The technology needs to be ready for implementation at sufficient levels. While there are many types of readiness assessments, the most appropriate to use with projects in early development such as those in ULI are TRLs and MRLs. Project PIs and NASA should utilize guidelines in GAO-20-48G1 in assessing readiness and developing actionable plans. FINDING: The ULI program lacks a standardized way to describe the maturity of a technology so that interested parties can make appropriate decisions about on-boarding the technologies or developing new projects. RECOMMENDATION: NASA should require the use of technology readiness levels and manufacturing readiness levels as a standard practice for all projects. Technologies can serve to enable the development of a new business model and can even stimulate thinking about developing a new platform. However, new technologies by themselves will not drive a new business model. Interested parties perform risk management before considering the use of new technologies, regardless of whether they are adding to their current line, introducing a new product, or considering a start-up. Mergers and acquisitions are often done for this reason. While there are still some risks, other risks associated with starting up a busines can be mitigated through mergers and acquisitions. The maturity level of the technology is just one of the risks under consideration when deciding on a new business model. Risk management also includes market and economic analysis of the potential market, and the viability of any product or service is usually performed before decisions about new business models are made. In addition to market analysis, the development of new business models requires an economic analysis that is evaluated against the benefits of the technology. Certain benefits, such as safety and structural integrity, are so important that businesses will be more amenable to invest in these. When new technologies are introduced, the cost of transition or change and implementation needs to be considered. The cost of integrating new parts and systems also includes the impact to the larger system or infrastructure. Related technical changes will introduce costs into the system. Another part of the risk assessment is that of workforce. Any new business needs to consider the nature of the workforce that will be needed for successful execution of a new business model. With respect to new technologies and services, companies need to know whether they can use the current workforce as is, retrain the current workforce, or hire a new workforce for design, manufacturing, and maintenance. While ULI is training scientists and engineers in technology development and transitioning to more advanced research and prototyping, it may not be preparing the workforce for future jobs in design and manufacturing. All of these are part of the risk assessment of a transition plan. Since ULI encourages innovative teaming, having a business student as part of a team could help with the market/business analysis. Project teams can accomplish this by enlisting help from their industry partners, adding a student from the college of business to the team, or encouraging entrepreneurial thinking on these teams. FINDING: The current ULI projects do not include risk management analysis. 1 U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2020, Technology Readiness Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Evaluating the Readiness of Technology for Use in Acquisition Programs and Projects, GAO-20-48G, February 11, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-20-48g.

IDENTIFY WAYS TO ENCOURAGE ULI PROPOSALS 25 RECOMMENDATION: If new business models are to be developed, then NASA should require risk management as part of the transition plan. This plan should include, but not be limited to, maturity, market, economic, and workforce risks. The committee also notes that in addition to risk management knowledge, it would also be useful for ULI awardees to learn and adopt basic program and project management principles. One of NASA’s expectations is that the projects will develop into systems-level solutions in the later phases of the award period, making them more amenable to being part of a driver for new business models. Since the strategic thrusts and mega-drivers are complex, research projects can only focus on one part of the larger system that may stimulate new business models. There should be opportunities for the different projects to communicate with each other as well as with NASA researchers who are performing complementary research. Discussions among technologists can lead to insights that improve their projects and help them develop a systems view of where their projects fit into the strategic thrusts as well as an understanding of their relationship with the mega-drivers that can improve their outcomes. Benefits would also include identification of gaps or any misalignments as well as technology integration. This understanding can help provide guidance for the research and help prepare scientists and engineers for future careers. Systems-level readiness could also be performed to determine what would need to be done to develop a new business model. FINDING: An opportunity for researchers from different ULI projects and NASA researchers to exchange ideas and use the results of this dialogue to improve projects and transitions is needed. RECOMMENDATION: NASA should identify and explore ways in which ULI participants can engage in cross-pollination of ideas with other NASA researchers and other ULI projects. This could also assist the agency in addressing the need for collaborative projects and avoiding duplication of effort. Many of the technologies are more readily transitioned into new business models by other parts of the supply chain or by companies outside of a large-scale integrator. Oftentimes, smaller companies can be more agile and flexible in developing and adopting new technologies. They too have to do the market and economic assessments, but because of their position in the supply chain, they often have a greater desire to develop new business models. In addition to these, there may be start-up companies that could be formed to commercialize the technologies and provide products or services. Another source of transitioning is non-aviation related businesses. With the current development of eVTOLs and unmanned aerial vehicles, there is a greater interest in industry in accelerating the development of many of these technologies. Ways of engaging companies outside of aviation include presenting technologies at conferences and trade shows outside of traditional conferences and seeking internships at non-aviation companies. FINDING: Currently, the onus of seeking partners and transition opportunities is on the PIs. RECOMMENDATION: NASA should identify partners outside of the traditional aviation companies for the appropriate technologies. Teams should be encouraged to pursue start-ups if appropriate. Many universities have technology transition offices that can help with this effort.

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NASA created the University Leadership Initiative (ULI) to engage creative and innovative minds in the academic arena to identify significant aeronautics and aviation research challenges and define their unique approach to their solution. The ULI was started in 2015 as part of the larger University Innovation Project, with the goal of seeking new, innovative ideas that can support the U.S. aviation community and NASA's long-term aeronautics research goals, as established by its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

Assessing NASA's University Leadership Initiative reviews the ULI and makes recommendations to enhance program's impact to benefit students, faculty, industry, and the U.S. public.

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