english expression

[Anonymous]

Hello,
can you tell me what 'commercial spin-off' means?

[MikeNewYork]

Hello,
can you tell me what 'commercial spin-off' means?

I would take that to mean a product that was developed for a private purpose that was subsequesntly found to have a commercial use.

[Tdol]

I'd give it a wider meaning and say that anything developed for or as part of one process which then had commercial value would be a 'spin-off'. All that matters is that it was not the originalintention.

[RonBee]

Many things originally developed by NASA have had commercial spin offs.

:)

[Tdol]

That was exactly what I had in mind, but didn't want to name things like teflon, because I know some said to be from NASA are not. BTW have you heard about the NASA pen developed to operate in zero gravity at low temperatures etc? It cost millions to develop. The Soviets used a pencil.

[RonBee]

That was exactly what I had in mind, but didn't want to name things like teflon, because I know some said to be from NASA are not. BTW have you heard about the NASA pen developed to operate in zero gravity at low temperatures etc? It cost millions to develop. The Soviets used a pencil.

I would have used a pencil. Maybe things are different tho if you have a problem to overcome and plenty of money to play with to help you do so.

• Teflon = tetrafluoroethylene

:)