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Statement of Task

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will appoint a committee to organize a workshop focused on understanding barriers to innovation at NASA and providing feedback on NASA’s framework for creating an innovative ecosystem. A workshop proceedings will document the workshop, including summaries of individual presentations and ensuing discussions. The proceedings will not present consensus conclusions or recommendations.

In preparation for the appointment of the organizing committee and the holding of the workshop, the National Academies will organize two meetings of experts to conduct a dialogue between NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT), NASA’s Enterprise Strategy for Innovation Team, and invited experts from the government, industry, university and non-profit sectors. The topics of the meetings of experts shall be “barriers to innovation and how to address them within NASA’s Innovation Ecosystem” and “criteria for assessing NASA’s Innovation Ecosystem.” The goal of the meetings of experts will be to help inform OCT so NASA can refine the set of topics the agency wants the National Academies workshop to address and help identify the types and background of speakers, panelists, and experts that would be invited to the workshop by the National Academies-appointed workshop organizing committee. The experts are expected to be acting in their personal capacities. No National Academies-endorsed product will be produced from these meetings of experts.