Press Release

Web Exchange Enables Members to Publish and Interact with Engineering Innovations using Groundbreaking Technology

By SpaceRef Editor
January 5, 2001
Filed under ,

NASA Tech Briefs
Magazine and Innovation Chain, Inc., today announce that the NASA Tech
Briefs Model and Simulation Exchange is now live. The Exchange is an
interactive Web resource, which enables members to publish and share
their innovations with a community of peers and potential customers as
well as research and interact with models and simulations in a way
never before possible. The Exchange can be found at
http://nasatech.innovationchain.com/first.asp.

Interaction on the Exchange is achieved through the Innovation
Chain Plug-in, which distills complex, multidisciplinary technical
data used in creating models and simulations, and delivers it in an
Excel interface. When an Exchange member interacts with a model or
simulation, the Plug-in kicks off calculations on remote Innovation
Chain servers, which interface with a variety of software packages,
and sends customized results back to the Exchange member’s computer.

In addition, members are able to convert their own innovations
into interactive models and simulations to be posted on the Exchange,
allowing them to receive feedback from their peers and securely
promote their innovations to potential customers. With this new
technology, Exchange members can quickly evaluate a technology’s
suitability to their needs, as well as try out new model and
simulation software.

Interactive technical supplements to articles found in NASA Tech
Briefs Magazine are also published on the Exchange.

“Through our partnership with Innovation Chain, we expect to
accelerate the rate of technology commercialization through NASA Tech
Briefs, bolstering our position as the number one resource for design
engineers seeking ways to improve their products,” said Joseph
Pramberger, publisher of NASA Tech Briefs. “For the first time our
readers will be able to interactively evaluate the applicability of an
innovation to their needs.”

“We are happy to have NASA Tech Briefs as our launch partner,”
added Dr. Gahl Berkooz, Innovation Chain Founder and CTO. “Their
service to manufacturing companies dovetails nicely with our
infrastructure for abstracting and delivering technical information
across multiple disciplines.”

About NASA Tech Briefs:

First issued as single sheet reports in the 1960s and converted to
a magazine format in the 1970s, NASA Tech Briefs has been a joint
publishing venture of NASA and ABP International (New York City) since
1985, a pioneering government-private sector partnership that has
saved taxpayers millions of dollars in publishing costs while
dramatically increasing the magazine’s reach to OEM design/development
engineers and managers. Today, NASA Tech Briefs has a qualified
circulation of 200,000, and total monthly readership surpassing
450,000.

The monthly magazine and its Web site (www.nasatech.com) feature
exclusive reports of innovations developed by NASA and its industry
partners/contractors that can be applied to develop new/improved
products and solve engineering or manufacturing problems. Authored by
the engineers or scientists who did the work, the briefs span a wide
array of fields, including electronics, physical sciences, materials,
computer software, mechanics, machinery/automation,
manufacturing/fabrication, mathematics/information sciences, and life
sciences.

About Innovation Chain:

Innovation Chain provides software and services that help
technology and manufacturing companies reduce time to revenue and
increase the profit of their products.

The open, XML-based Innovation Chain Platform abstracts complex,
multi-disciplinary technical data and presents it in an
easy-to-understand, interactive format so it can be used to speed core
business processes and improve decision making at every stage of the
product life cycle.

Drawing on its in-depth process expertise and the Platform,
Innovation Chain builds Process Engineering Risk Management (PERM)
solutions that drive business. This new category of process-specific
models — coupled with performance-level guarantees — lowers costs,
increases productivity, improves product quality, and accelerates
profitability in manufacturing.

Innovation Chain also develops software to leverage engineering
expertise across the organization, evaluate design alternatives, and
deliver distilled, focused information into the hands of decision
makers.

SpaceRef staff editor.