Paragon's experience in successful technology development and infusion within the SBIR program

Abstract

Paragon Space Development Corporation (Paragon) has been honored by NASA as a “Hallmark Success Story” due to our ability to incorporate radiator development technology into the Orion Program winning bid by Lockheed Martin. The Paragon Dive System™ used for contaminated-water diving, currently being manufactured for the Navy, was also named one of the “Top 10 Inventions” of the year by Popular Science magazine (June 2008). Both of these technology development efforts found their root in the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. Paragon has had an almost unparalleled success in SBIR technology development with a “win rate” of almost 80% and a continuation of Phase I efforts to Phase II for all but one SBIRs through eight years of effort. We attribute this performance to a number of factors: 1) A corporate culture that encourages and awards innovation, 2) Efforts to understand the customer's ultimate needs and constraints and to incorporate that knowledge into the proposal stage, as well as during the development effort, 3) A very structured process of SBIR proposal development including an emphasis on technical objectives and outcomes of each task, 4) Disciplined execution of programs to cost and budget, 5) Strong internal investment and commitment to success in higher risk programs, and 6) Rigorous exercise and protection of the garnered SBIR data rights. Each one of these elements are expanded upon and explained in more detail within this paper with clear actions that the reader can take to focus their efforts on the successful development and infusion of technology with an emphasis on the NASA SBIR process and outcomes. In addition, some suggestions will be made as to policies that could be changed by government agencies to improve the process and remove obstacles. These will include timely funding and contract negotiations, agency broadcasting of technology needs and desires, and increased emphasis on demonstrations that will speak directly to the “Technology Readiness Level”.