WIDE REACH, BIG PAYOFF
“We think there’s a good overlap between the kinds of companies we’re working with
and Department of Defense needs regarding traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress and the optimization of human performance.
“We’re looking for companies that have a significantly better solution to an impor- tant problem, who then go on to lead that category.”
A NEW VENTURE Te USAMRDC partnership with venture capital companies is still a burgeoning effort—the pairing with ARCH is less than a year old—but on a larger scale, it represents the command’s desire to quickly find, fund and procure the types of tech- nologies required to keep U.S. Soldiers safe on the seemingly ever-changing battlefield of the future; a place defined as much by potential location as by the technology (and the technological knowhow) of a given adversary. Such corporate efforts are chiefly routed through the Medical Tech- nology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), a powerful USAMRDC partner that aims to accelerate the development of revolu- tionary medical solutions to meet the needs of U.S. military personnel and veter- ans. In a unique way—and in an almost parallel manner—MTEC has a reach that rivals ARCH’s own.
For Jill Sorensen, the chief operating offi- cer for MTEC, focusing on such a vast array of military medical requirements, especially in an era of fast-moving techno- logical landscapes, requires near-constant, round-the-clock attention. “We’re living in the realm of the unmet medical need, [and] so the question is—how do we accel- erate filling that gap?” said Sorensen,
”
noting the contemporary need to identify both immediate and potential medical concerns, and their accompanying solu- tions, as quickly as possible. “A term that we’ve been using to explain this is ‘read- iness,’ or in this context, ‘commercial readiness.’ ”
SHARED VISION Tat MTEC’s own priorities would align so cleanly with the USAMRDC’s (i.e., a keen focus on Soldier readiness) is to be expected. A nonprofit corporation
comprising a vast
stable of private,
academic and not-for-profit organiza- tions, MTEC is a 501(c)(3) biomedical technology consortium collaborating with USAMRDC under an other-transaction authority agreement, a mechanism that allows consortium members and govern- ment program managers to hold open discussions throughout the solicitation phase. Tat capability, in turn, enables the rapid exchange of information among government entities, private technology developers and funding partners, which ultimately facilitates partnerships and paves the way for innovation. At the end of 2020, MTEC boasted a roster of more than 460 such members. Simply put, once they get their hands around a prototype- ready innovation, MTEC members have the connections required to bring that product to market.
What makes this partnership so unique, however, is the manner in which these
IN DEPTH
Medical personnel from Regional Health Command – Pacific use virtual health capabilities to treat a simulated patient during Joint Warfighting Assessment April 23 to May 10 in Yakima, Washington. ARCH provides more in-depth examinations of those chosen technologies for USAMRDC leaders. (Photo by Flavia Hulsey, Regional Health Command – Pacific)
14
Army AL&T Magazine
Spring 2021
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