NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), plus the State Department, NIKE, Inc. and other private-sector partners, have been collaborating on a unique venture that identifies and provides support for innovative ideas and technologies dealing with such global challenges as water resources, clean air, health care and energy. Led by Diane Powell of NASA, the program known as LAUNCH brings scientists, entrepreneurs and inventors to the Kennedy Space Center for intensive two-to-three-day forums to focus attention on their innovations and to help them accelerate the adoption of their breakthrough ideas.