The Brevard Technical Journal

Tech transfer benefits local businesses & garners public support.

By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

Space supporters won't make the same mistake twice, if Frank Kinney has his way.

Provided NASA pulls off the technological feat of sending an astronaut to Mars, the private sector will benefit from the advances that go along with such an undertaking, said the executive director of the Technological Research and Development Authority.

That didn't happen after the cutting-edge Apollo program. "We stopped on the moon and the pink slips went out shortly thereafter," Kinney said.

The space agency was so focused on getting to the moon, it didn't devote any energy to giving businesses access to the cordless tools, advances in batteries and miniaturization it developed along the way. "Tech transfer was not in vogue," Kinney said.

This time is different. Kinney sees the TRDA as the perfect conduit to get the technology out and create a buzz about the space program that will inspire public support when the agency wants to launch a new initiative. "We're going to see that opportunity again," Kinney said. "Not to downplay current projects, but to go to Mars is exponentially more difficult than flying the space shuttle around the Earth or building a space station."

Kinney heads the Titusville-based organization charged with promoting the space program, transferring government-developed technologies to the private sector and enhancing technology education.

The space agency could use the public relations boost. Kinney is concerned about polls showing a lack of enthusiasm for President Bush's proposed Mars exploration. The reaction, Kinney contends, shows the need to communicate new and continuing improvements the space program makes to people's lives. "We can't talk about Teflon forever," he said.

What Kinney wants to talk about are things that the space program is doing right now to improve lives and stimulate the economy, in Brevard County and beyond. In fact, Kinney is particularly proud of the TRDA's reach into other states. The organization now has contracts in New Mexico, Texas and New York.

That's largely to Kinney's credit, said Ernie Briel, a past chairman of the TRDA board whose term expired in December.

"He's always finding new opportunities for the organization and new ways to expand its role," said Briel. "The TRDA has grown from a little Brevard County organization to one whose responsibilities are statewide and national."

The Florida Legislature created the TRDA in 1987 with the aim to turn Kennedy Space Center into more than a launch facility, making it a research and development operation, as well. Early funding came primarily from the sale of Challenger license plates.

The first year's budget of $31,200 has grown to about $10 million, made up mostly of grants and contracts. The authority's major programs:

Outreach. The Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program, or SATOP, offers free assistance from space industry experts to private businesses. The program has helped a New Jersey maker of printing presses and coding machines improve its manufacture of systems to label boxes, for example, and offered expertise that shortened adhesive curing time for a Florida maker of life rafts.
Business incubation. TRDA operates an incubation center in Titusville, offering office space and services at low cost to startup companies. The program is expanding, with plans for an incubator in Melbourne. Kinney is excited about contracts to expand this function beyond Brevard. TRDA opened an incubator in Homestead last year, and another is slated for Syracuse, N.Y. Kinney plans to plaster the facility with the NASA logo, developing support for the space agency in more diverse areas of the country.
Education. Through the Endeavour Academy, TRDA offers science, math and technology workshops and summer internships for teachers.
Energy. A small TRDA program seeks funding for companies developing alternative fuel sources.

Kinney's own history is intertwined with that of the organization. He took a leave of absence from Florida Tech to get TRDA off the ground and never went back.

Not everyone is a fan. State Rep. Bob Allen, R-Merritt Island, a former TRDA board member and deputy director, thinks the organization would benefit from a leadership change. As an employee, Allen says today that he spent much of his time serving as a buffer between Kinney and other staff members. He also charges that the board is ill-informed.

The TRDA has great potential, Allen said, but "leadership there has ossified."

After Allen made similar comments publicly last year, Briel talked to most staff members in private. "There was some room for improvement, but I don't know anyone who doesn't have room for improvement," Briel said. He found no evidence of any unethical practices.

The TRDA since has hired an outside management consultant to evaluate the organization and improve staff member's career opportunities. Briel remains confident in the authority and in Kinney.

"The organization continues to prosper, and that to me is the bottom line," said Briel, chairman of the board of engineering architecture and construction firm BRPH Cos. He noted the increases in federal money being funneled through the group. "It's Frank's initiatives that have made that happen."

Lobbying politicians for funding is a natural for Kinney, who says he's always been intrigued by politics. He made the subject his education, if not, in a way, his career.

In 1960, Kinney's family moved from Kentucky to the Space Coast, where Kinney's father worked as a draftsman at Kennedy Space Center. Kinney graduated from Eau Gallie High School in 1974 and went on to Brevard Community College, where he met his wife, Kitt Kane.

The two left for Florida State University, where Kinney majored in political science. After graduation he managed a business office for Southern Bell in Jacksonville, and quickly decided the job wasn't for him. He returned to school, as did his wife. He earned a master's degree in political science, and she got a master's in education.

A class in grant writing served him well: Kinney landed a job as a grant writer for Florida Tech, where he worked from 1982 to 1989 representing the university in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. When he left to launch the TRDA, he was assistant vice president for university advancement.

Understanding the importance of technology is only part of his job. "You also have to have an understanding of politics because that's how you're going to get these great ideas funded," he said.