STARTING SMALL TO DEVELOP BIG IDEAS

摘要

Soon after three engineers left Battelle Columbus Laboratories to establish Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) in 1988, they won their first NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract. Since then, the firm has built a thriving business on the propulsion, life support and biotechnology work that often began under SBIR contracts for NASA, the U.S. Air Force and other government agencies. "We've won hundreds of SBIRs and have taken viable technology and commercialized it where possible," said Paul Zamprelli, business director for Madison, Wisconsin-based ORBITEC, a subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corp. "We also use the technology in products we provide to prime contractors, NASA, the Air Force and other government agencies."