Cortland County is partnering with NASA’s new Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP) which is expanding to New York State, after successful launches in Florida and Texas. SATOP is a grassroots effort designed to make the engineering resources of the US space program available to small to medium sized businesses, encourage economic growth and generate visibility for the space industry.

The Cortland BDC has joined the SATOP Alliance and will oversee implementing the program here. SATOP has been credited with providing more than 1,000 technical solutions, saving or creating over 900 jobs, and infusing more than $70 million into the Florida economy.

"Twenty years ago, the Sunbelt States were technological backwaters. Today they lead the nation in sectors like aerospace, avionics, software development and other advanced technologies," noted BDC Executive Director Linda Hartsock. "We can learn from their pattern of success, which included joint partnerships between government, educational institutions and the private sector to solve problems and innovate technical solutions. That’s the goal of this program here in Cortland."

Businesses facing technical challenges may be able to receive up to 40 hours of free confidential engineering support from SATOP. The program is intended to help solve technology challenges which cannot be resolved by a company’s own internal resources, or by commercially available services. Areas of expertise include, but are not limited to, mechanical, manufacturing, industrial, materials, structural, facilities, chemical, electrical, electronics, and environmental engineering.

SATOP’s success stories have come not only from manufacturing and industrial companies, but also from entrepreneurs and inventors in fields as diverse as agricultural, broadcasting , and the arts.

The BDC will serve as the point of contact for linking local companies with the technical resources of SATOP. To utilize the free service, a company with a specific technical need can contact the BDC who will work with SATOP to connect it with an engineer at NASA or a participating NASA contractor for resolution. Participating companies providing free technical services through NASA for this project include Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Sensis and many others. Also participating as providers of free technical consulting are educational institutions such as Syracuse University.

For more information on SATOP, visit its web site at http://www.spacetechsolutions.com