Managing Innovation
Each year, NASA allocates millions of dollars in grant funding to small businesses across the United States that supply the agency with innovative technology. These partnerships—which are supported by the federal government’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs—allow agencies such as NASA to tap into cutting-edge innovations that drive programs such as the Mars Rover, the International Space Station, and the James Webb Telescope.
Congress requires these agencies to conduct periodic independent reviews of small business partnerships and how research and development (R&D) grant money is used to ensure the funds are providing the greatest impact. And as NASA embarks on its latest review, the agency tapped Dr. Amol M. Joshi, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Bern Beatty Fellow, to join a team of 15 experts to analyze the efficacy of NASA’s small business R&D programs and partnerships.
“We will take an objective look, and then the chairs of our committee will present our findings and recommendations to Congress,” Joshi says. “This enables me to widely share the research I do on innovation and directly apply it to national economic development policies and priorities.”
This isn’t the first time the federal government has asked Joshi to lend his expertise to this type of analysis. He has also served on review committees for similar evaluations of small business R&D grants and technology programs for the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Joshi is a natural fit for this role. He spent a significant portion of his career in Silicon Valley as an engineer, entrepreneur and inventor, co-inventing two patented technologies for voice products. During that time he founded Be Vocal, a speech-recognition software startup that was an early pioneer in technology that enables voice recognition products like Siri and Alexa.
Though originally from India, Joshi grew up in the Carolinas and earned his Ph.D. at UNC-Chapel Hill. He came to Wake Forest in 2020, where he saw opportunity to collaborate across disciplines.
“One of the unique things about Wake Forest is that though we are perhaps a smaller institution, we have a lot under one roof,” he says. “I have a joint appointment on the faculty in the School of Medicine, and just yesterday I was on a call with folks from the School of Law and Engineering Department. We’re all working on the regulation of software as a medical device, which intersects all our areas of expertise.”
And his experience as an inventor and entrepreneur informs his work with students and faculty creating new technologies and products, as well. He lends his knowledge of invention and entrepreneurship to help creators at Wake translate their ideas beyond campus.
“I see myself as a resource for guiding our students and aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as scientists and technologists at Wake Forest, who want to bring their ideas out of the lab and into the marketplace,” he says.
Joshi also designed strategy courses for the MBA program, which task students with operating a simulated medical device company as teams, running their businesses for eight weeks before presenting to a “board of directors” made up of Wake Forest alumni who are local C-level executives and leaders.
“I give them a realistic and interactive experience, learning how to actually manage a business,” he says.
Joshi also brings the work he does outside Wake Forest into the classroom, giving his students an insider look at public and private-sector partnerships not only through his work with the federal government, but also the State of North Carolina. He conducts nonpartisan economic analysis of innovation policies for the State legislature and Executive branch agencies.
“They want to have someone take an independent look at the data who won’t go into it trying to prove one point of view or another,” he says. “This is the objective evidence for what happens, and this is what’s best for North Carolina.”
Joshi says he follows that same approach to his work with NASA and other federal government agencies. And whether he’s working with students on campus or consulting for NASA, he believes championing innovation and entrepreneurship transcends political differences and presents an opportunity to contribute to the greater good in the spirit of Pro Humanitate.
“The nice thing about it is this is a nonpartisan issue,” he says. “Most people, regardless of their political beliefs, are generally in support of helping small business in the United States. And for me, that work is very important because it has an impact far beyond Wake Forest in creating shared prosperity.”
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