ARMY AL&T
committed to developing medical tools that better manage, prevent, diagnose, treat and rehabilitate a wide range of injuries.
MTEC’s consortium-based approach is different from standard funding mechanisms in that it is designed to facilitate frequent interaction between military sponsors, academic institutions, nontraditional defense contractors and large businesses in order to determine exactly what the military is looking for in any partic- ular product.
LET'S COLLABORATE MTEC starts any collaborative effort by conducting outreach; first by scouting through relationships with industrial associa- tions, medical accelerators and venture capital groups, as well as attending scientific conferences and military symposia and judg- ing at company-pitch events—all of which are all instrumental in providing innovation that is ready to meet the military need. Tis outreach helps capture a large number of those nontradi- tional partners, thereby constantly bringing new ideas into the military ecosystem.
“In addition, MTEC membership helps innovators get connected with resource capabilities required for prototype maturation and, potentially, with large industrial members that may serve as team- ing, co-development or even be potential acquisition partners one day,” said Lauren Palestrini, director of research programs at MTEC. “MTEC has developed strong ties with USAMRDC since its inception in 2015, and our teaming and collaboration capabilities across both university and large and small business members helps our military sponsors access a dynamic, inno- vative ecosystem that is uniquely suited to encourage small startup companies developing technologies in the military medi- cine space.”
Te tool MTEC uses to get an up-close look at promising efforts is an other-transaction agreement, which is a special contracting mechanism that allows USAMRDC to move forward far more quickly along the contracting pathway than standard Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contracts normally allow; a process that in turn increases the speed at which Soldiers receive innovative medical technology. Te other-transaction agree- ment aims to set chosen projects in motion in mere months and allows for complex collaborations, made possible by the mecha- nism’s reliance on nontraditional partners and built-in flexibility with regard to data rights and regulatory terms. Additionally, other-transaction agreements allow for more conversation and negotiation between DOD and the performer as compared with traditional FAR-based contracts. (In this context, "the performer” is the entity developing the prototype. MTEC members can part- ner with the performer for particular needs.)
With that kind of unique support infrastructure in place, MTEC is able to offer investigators a partnership in which, following review and approval of their funding request, they watch that very infrastructure actively work on their behalf; making connec- tions, suggesting teaming arrangements and more.
“We then have competitive methodologies in place that can quickly solicit solutions to the government requirements,” said Kathy Zolman, director of operations for MTEC, describing how the process works. “Ten it’s up to the individual performer— whether that’s a university or a company—to propose their [scientific] milestones and associated timelines; and then once on award, we manage and track the project from there.”
Said Palestrini, “I think it’s one of the major benefits of the infra- structure that we’ve built that folks can bring a new technology forward and then have those interactions with the government and with MTEC to help them better refine or steer their tech- nology into a direction that best fits the military need. And concurrently, that technology provider can pursue a broader civil- ian use case as well.”
UP TO THE TEST
The ReHeal Glove during a testing session. (Photo courtesy of the University of Washington)
GAINING MOMENTUM Tis is the terrain Allan and Wijesundara were attempting to navigate back in 2013 when they first began pooling their talents on the ReHeal Glove. Following their successful application for funding, MTEC funded the pair more than $200,000 (via a prototype-acceleration award) for additional prototype development, which—when combined with the $1 million the team was eventually awarded from Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)—catapulted the project
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