By Allan Maurer

APEX, NC—When NASA seeks ways to move aerospace technology from rocket ships to broader commercial use, consulting firm Fuentek helps it find partners for spinoffs ranging from nanotechnology to high tech goggles used to spot hydrogen fires in Indy race cars.

Founded by Laura Schoppe in 2001, consulting firm Fuentek provides intellectual property and technology management services. With a specialization in technology commercialization, Fuentek works with a wide variety of clients to identify promising technologies and assist them in converting their ideas and inventions into marketable products.

The name Fuentek, which Schoppe and her husband came up with over dinner one evening, “Means fountain in Spanish,” she says. Her father is from Spain and her mother is from Argentina. The company’s slogan is “A fountain of possibilities.”

“I figured if we didn’t make a go of it, we could reuse the name and become a landscaper,” she jokes.

The completely virtual company and its consultants all work from home offices.

NASA became one of the firm’s first clients. It is now the largest NASA contractor in North Carolina. It works with the agency’s Innovative Partnerships Program Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

In addition to helping NASA move its technologies into the mainstream, Fuentek also helps NASA find and apply existing technologies to its own needs.

Some of the projects the company is working on for the agency include satellite antenna technology out of NASA Glenn in Cleveland, OH, software analytics packages from NASA Goddard, a circuitry technology out of NASA Kennedy, and some polymer technology from NASA Langley.

The antenna technology could eventually be used in the home for satellite TV reception. “You could install it yourself. It doesn’t need to be lined up or anything,” says Schoppe.

This week the company is holding its first training workshop for tech transfer offices and their innovative partnership programs at NASA Ames.

“We’re working on something out of all ten NASA centers,” Schoppe says.

Of all the projects she’s worked on for the agency, one of the more interesting was developing goggles to help NASCAR pit crews see hydrogen fires when refueling Indy racecars. “It was cool to interact with NASCAR and Indy to understand what they were doing,” she says. Another NASA technology that intersected with NASCAR was an air foil, she notes.

The goggles ended up used by fire departments, one of several NASA spinoffs firefighters have available now.

In 2005 and 2006, DiversityBusiness.com recognized Fuentek as one of the top 50 women-owned businesses in North Carolina.

Tomorrow: Helping NASA develop a massively multiplayer online game to interest students in math, science and engineering.

On the Web: www.fuentek.com

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