New NASA Open Innovation Challenge Pavilion Leverages Crowdsourcing To Improve Health And Performance Of Astronauts

One of the largest challenges for long-term speceflight is protecting the health of astronauts in extreme, and often unknown, environments, In a effort to tackle those problems, NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) and a company called InnoCentive announced a new NASA Open Innovation Pavilion Wednesday, which will provide the public with the opportunity to help solve difficult problems in human health and performance facing the U.S. space program.

"Many people around the world did not previously have the opportunity to help solve some of the problems facing NASA," said InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin. "Now, anyone with interest and ability can impact how the U.S. explores the final frontier. NASA Space Life Sciences' commitment to open innovation is a testament to exploring solutions from any contributor."

NASA Space Life Sciences is pursuing new strategies, such as crowdsourcing, to achieve its goals for improved collaboration and open innovation. Open to InnoCentive's network of 200,000 Solvers, the NASA Open Innovation Pavilion currently offers awards for the solving of three challenges focused on developing an exercise resistance mechanism, forecasting solar events and improving food packaging. They include:

• Improved Barrier Layers - Keeping Food Fresh in Space
• Develop a compact, effective aerobic and resistive exercise device
• Forecasting of Solar Events

These three efforts are the first in a series of life sciences challenges focused on improving the health and performance of astronauts. They pose a new level of problem-solving and excitement to the InnoCentive Solver network, since these challenges accompany a new set of solution development constraints. Because the challenges exist in space, not on Earth, InnoCentive anticipates Solvers attempting to provide winning solutions will need to employ significant creativity.

"Providing more opportunities for collaboration is key to achieving Space Life Sciences goals," said Jeffrey R. Davis, M.D., director, Space Life Sciences, NASA Johnson Space Center. "Working with InnoCentive and other open innovation intermediaries allows us to draw from the broadest set of expertise to most effectively address the health and performance challenges of human spaceflight."

"Solutions generated within NASA's Open Innovation Pavilion may have implications beyond improving health and human performance during spaceflight," said Elizabeth E. Richard, senior strategist, Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group. "Solutions for spaceflight may have applications to Earth-based problems that could include new medical therapeutic and diagnostic devices, air and water quality monitoring, and even new food packaging strategies as described in one of the current challenges."

In the future InnoCentive will partner with additional NASA research centers, including Langley, to develop and post to the NASA Open Innovation Pavilion Challenges specific to their programs.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.innocentive.com