Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Investment: Funding the Future
- Paper number
IAC-07-E5.1.04
- Author
Dr. Paul Eckert, The Boeing Company, United States
- Year
2007
- Abstract
Continuing an effort reported at the 2006 IAC in Valencia, large and small companies are joining together in an international consortium for encouragement of space-related entrepreneurial innovation. Sponsoring firms over the past two years have included The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Honeywell International, Raytheon Company, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Alcatel Alenia Space, as well as startup firms like Transformation Space Corporation and Lunar Transportation Systems. In 2007, the consortium is holding roundtable events focusing on the commercial interplay between innovation, entrepreneurship, multiple-use technologies, and investment. These companies have recognized that entrepreneurial innovation by startup companies--profitably applying existing technology to meet customer needs in a marketplace--is at least as important as efforts to develop new technologies in the laboratory. The global industry consortium is also working to encourage development of truly commercial, self-sustaining space activity involving non government customers, rather than simply extending government contracting. Given that promoting business growth is also in the interest of governments, discussions are addressing how public-private partnerships can encourage entrepreneurship through education, incubation, incentives, and regulation. Multiple-use technologies are especially important in this context, because their profitable near-term commercialization on Earth can help fund pursuit of later commercial applications in space. A prime example of this principle involves robotics. Companies like the Canadian firm McDonald Dettwiler are finding that the same commercial teleoperation technologies useful in terrestrial robotic mining and undersea maintenance could be later used to enable lunar and planetary operations. Small firms like Honeybee Robotics and iRobot may follow similar paths. Industry consortium activities in 2007 include investment summits in New York City and Silicon Valley. These may be followed by similar events in financial centers outside the U.S. However, the choice of venues such as these should not imply a focus exclusively on large amounts of capital from major institutional investors and venture capital firms. On the contrary, because of the high risk and delayed profitability of most startup companies, early funding must often come from angel investors—wealthy individuals for whom creating a legacy of innovation is more important than making a profit. Once startup companies have achieved initial success, larger investors, as well as major companies in the international consortium, may choose to become financially involved. Overall, the consortium’s dynamic synthesis of innovation, entrepreneurship, multiple-use technologies, and investment promises to become a pathfinder for funding the future of humanity in space.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E5.1.04.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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