The definition of "new technology" is broader than you think
Any improvement—no matter how big or small—can be reported as an NTR. It doesn’t matter if you consider it a discovery, an invention, an innovation, or simply an advance in the state of the art. For scientists and engineers, recognizing when you have something reportable can be hard to gauge, since it’s easy to feel that you are just doing your job to meet project or program objectives. But it is still important for NASA to know about your work.
It can be difficult to identify when you really have created something new or novel or truly made an improvement. If you created something that works faster or better, is stronger or lighter or more robust, or is cheaper or easier to make, you have an innovation that you may be required to report in an NTR.
The following examples can also help you identify reportable technologies:
- New technology, designs, or concepts
- New or improved hardware, devices, machines, or prototypes, including at the nano or molecular level
- New or improved methods, assays, analyses, tests, processes, procedures, simulations, testbeds, integration, packaging, encapsulation, or miniaturization methods
- New or improved models (including, but not limited to, animals, tissue culture, cellular, molecular, or other biological models)
- New materials, compositions of matter, new arrangements of matter (including, but not limited to, synthetic, biological, genomic, proteomic, or molecular arrangements)
- New or improved manufacturing or fabrication approaches
- New software application or computer program, or even just a few lines of code
- New or novel uses or applications of existing technologies
- New process, technique, or formula
- New way of assembling commercial components
- New, modified, or updated software, algorithms, software concepts, simulations, or apps
- New or novel uses or applications of existing software-related or computing technologies
Even if it’s just an idea for an improvement that has not been built or tested, it is reportable as an NTR.
› Read more about when to report an NTR
Still wondering whether your work is reportable? Contact us — we're here to help.
