A DIFFERENT KIND OF COMPETITION
• Phase I (project feasibility) determines the scientific, technical and commercial merit and feasibility of the ideas submitted. Phase I contracts are typically $56,000 to $167,000 over a period of six months. (Amounts quoted are from the 2019-2 SBIR release.)
• Phase II (project development to prototype) is the major R&D effort, funding the prototyping and demonstration of the most promising Phase I projects. Phase II contracts are up to $1.5 million and usually span 24 months.
• Phase III (commercialization) is the ultimate goal of the SBIR program. Small businesses obtain funding from the private sector or government sources outside the SBIR program to commercialize the Phase II project for sale in the military and private sector markets.
SBIR is a good supplement to xTechSearch because the purpose of both is to help small companies identify, develop and commer- cialize their new technologies, with the goal of getting contracts with DOD, the organic defense industrial base or the nontradi- tional defense industrial base. While both progress along similar process lines, xTechSearch and SBIR can create technology devel- opment synergy for the nontraditional defense companies.
Te competition’s easy application and subsequent partnership sessions demystify working with Army laboratories and, through use of the AUSA expositions, provide many avenues to poten- tial collaboration, partnerships and contract opportunities with DOD laboratories and commercial industry. Te SBIR program provides the opportunity for significantly greater amounts of funding and time to continue the development of a company’s novel technology while following up on the contacts made during the xTechSearch competition.
CONCLUSION Te mantra of the xTechSearch team has continuously been that while winning the xTechSearch grand prize is great, the real victory for xTechSearch competitors is eliminating bureaucratic barriers, gaining a better understanding of the Army and explor- ing potential contract opportunities.
xTechSearch has been successful in introducing and engag- ing with companies that previously would not have considered working with the Army. As xTechSearch conducts its third iter- ation, 21 companies have participated in two iterations and two companies have participated in all three. Four companies— Lumineye Inc., Halomine Inc. (previously named Antimicrobial
14 Army AL&T Magazine Fall 2019
Materials Inc.), AKHAN Semiconductor Inc. and MELD Manufacturing Corp.—used lessons learned from xTechSearch 1.0, including understanding the spectrum of Army moderniza- tion challenges, to advance as xTechSearch 2.0 finalists. Great Lakes Sound & Vibration Inc. partnered with another company to compete again in xTechSearch 3.0. Other participants have leveraged the contacts they made at xTechSearch to partner with Army organizations. For instance, Advanced Hydrogen Tech- nologies Corp., which participated in xTechSearch 1.0 and 2.0, is now partnering with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Army Research Laboratory to test its advanced armor manufacturing technology.
SIGINT Systems LLC, which has participated in all three xTech- Search iterations, connected with the Program Executive Office for Aviation at the 2019 AUSA Global Force Symposium and is now partnering with that organization to conduct an advanced technology demonstrator, which is scheduled to fly in March 2020. Finally, United Aircraft Technologies Inc. has leveraged contacts from xTechSearch to partner with British Aerospace to use United Aircraft’s technology in its aircraft. United Aircraft Technologies is also evaluating licensing opportunities with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
Te Army’s victory is that the technology developed through DOD and commercial contracts will eventually find its way back to the warfighter, in either its current or an improved form. Adding an xTechSearch topic to the SBIR program is a good first step by xTechSearch to evolve and provide additional time and funding for companies to continue to develop their technologies while finding DOD and commercial partners to carry their tech- nologies into production.
For more information, go to the xTechSearch website at https://
www.xtechsearch.army.mil/ or the Army SBIR website at https://
www.armysbir.army.mil/.
DR. MATT WILLIS is director for laboratory management in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University. He is Level II certified in science and technology management and is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps.
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