ok found this one on incgamers.com:
From the mouth of Al Rivera (Lead Designer):
We haven't heard much about crafting in STO. What can you tell us about it?
There are two forms of crafting in STO, but they are a little less traditional. Throughout the game you are crafting Bridge Officers. You will acquire new Bridge Officers, skill them up, and train them in new skills. You can train them in several ways, including training skill, finding other Bridge Officers to train them, or acquiring data resources to train them at planet Memory Alpha. You can then trade Bridge Officers to other players, or transfer them back to Starfleet for reputation.
There is also a harvesting feature in STO where you collect a number of different resources throughout the universe (both in space and on planet surfaces). These resources can be used to unlock special recipes for new items at Memory Alpha.
