The Huntsville Regional Economic Growth Initiative (HREGI ...

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Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center along with their partners from across the country have built the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer, HIRAD for short, to contribute to the effort. HIRAD is small, lightweight, relatively inexpensive, and has no moving parts, giving it a big advantage as it flies through hurricanes. It is mounted for testing in an anechoic chamber, a chamber outfitted with foam spikes to eliminate all ambient microwaves so that scientists can properly test the instrument. The instrument will fly on a WB-57, one of the few aircraft capable of operating at 60,000 feet, an altitude so high that the pilots have to wear special pressurized suits to withstand the harsh conditions. (Photo courtesy of NASA) Preparing to Launch New Small Businesses Federal funding will help grow area’s high-tech small businesses and stimulate job growth The Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation (VCSI) was recently awarded a $600,000 Small Business Administration (SBA) grant for the SBA’s “Innovative Economies” pilot program to help existing small high-tech companies create jobs and to support the development of high-tech start-ups in support of advanced defense technologies. SBA’s funding will be provided to the VCSI, a local non-profit group and the cluster’s organizing entity, to create more opportunities for small businesses. The grant’s goal is to provide advanced defense technology solutions to the federal government. The funds can be used to provide services including mentoring and counseling, small businesses commercialization and technology transfer services, business matchmaking events, business coaching and other services that support the growth and development of small businesses in the cluster region and its industries, based upon a plan that each cluster organization developed. Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle said the award represents the best of Huntsville’s technology development. “Technology is, was and will forever be a foundation of the Huntsville economy. This recognition of the Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation not only gives us the opportunity to further capitalize on Huntsville’s combined strength in defense technology, but also showcases our collaboration in defense technology between government, academia, contractor and commercial organizations,” said Battle. Marty Kress, executive director of VCSI, highlighted the strength of the team. “VCSI is honored to have been able to secure this award from SBA for the Huntsville region. VCSI was created to foster and promote collaborative activities, and like so many things that happen in the Huntsville region, it took a team effort to put a winning proposal in place,” Kress said. “The team went after this award because we all believed that the Huntsville/North Alabama region was a technology cluster worthy of national recognition. SBA has concurred.” The Huntsville proposal was one of only three plans awarded in the “Advanced Defense Technologies” category and one of 10 overall. The 10 “Innovative Economies” awardees were selected from among 173 applicants to participate in the pilot program and represent a wide range of diverse geographic areas and industries. From urban to rural and clean energy to robotics, the applicants focused on leading research and commercializing new products. SBA worked with the Department of Defense to identify areas around the country where innovation clusters can help meet critical defense technology needs such as advanced robotics, advanced defense systems, power/energy innovations, cyber-security and applied lightweight materials. In addition to VCSI, the other key members of the Huntsville Team include the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County; UAHuntsville; Alabama A&M University; the Women’s Business Center of North Alabama; Biz Tech; and Defense Acquisition University. The Huntsville team performed a gap analysis of its Department of Defense customers. Based on information gained from 36 December 2010 Initiatives
If your company has technology in any of these five focus areas: • Small Spacecraft • Environmental Monitoring • Intel-Surveillance-Recon • Robotics-Interoperable Systems • Innovative Energy Applications the Huntsville ADT Initiative can assist with the following: • Help identify and In 2008, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, DoD Space Test Program, and VCSI entered into a Flight Opportunity Agreement for the development of a microsatellite that would fly experiments for DoD. This new spacecraft will be called FASTSAT-HSV, short for the Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite – Huntsville. Future contract rights now belong to Dynetics. understand DOD customer requirements • Provide intelligence on opportunities or procurements from the government that could benefit from your technology • Facilitate teaming with prime contractors • Assist with contract vehicles to sell the solution to a federal customer • Develop a community of technology companies that can work together to provide system solutions to the federal customer that analysis and customer inputs, the team will have five Technology Focus Areas that are considered well-aligned with emerging DoD requirements, including: (1) Small spacecraft, airships and nanosats (2) Environmental monitoring and security (3) Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (4) Robotics-interoperable systems (such as unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and others) (5) Innovative energy applications A sixth area, cyber security, is also being supported by the grant activities. The Huntsville team proposed an expansion of existing business services for small businesses in the 10-county region to help secure advanced defense technology contracts and subcontracts. The team also proposed development of a core set of key technology and market intelligence services identified as critical requirements by regional small businesses. “This award will strengthen our community’s ability to support and grow our small businesses in the area of advanced defense technologies. This will allow us to grow our region by creating more jobs and to help these businesses compete on a global scale,” Don Nalley, chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors. SBA Administrator Karen Mills praised the award winners for capitalizing on their economic strengths. “Maximizing a region’s economic assets is one of the best ways to create long term job growth, and that’s what SBA’s new Innovative Economies pilot initiative is doing,” Mills said. “Today we are announcing funding support for 10 regional economic clusters. SBA’s support will help expand the opportunities and the role small businesses play in these regional collaborations, which are enhancing the ability to create jobs locally and compete on a national and global scale. I’m thrilled to announce the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation’s participation. They’re creating jobs in the community and making Huntsville an industry leader.” “The overall quality and diversity of proposals reflects the ingenuity of the American people and the vitality of highgrowth, high-impact small businesses in the U.S.,” said Gary Fontaine, SBA contracting officer. The team has already begun to put its technical approach in place on behalf of regional small businesses. Markeeva Morgan, a NASA project manager with experience in both NASA and the Department of Defense, will serve as project manager for this activity following the next space shuttle launch. For more information, visit the website at www. HuntsvilleADT.vcsi.org. • Lucia Cape & John Southerland 37 Initiatives December 2010
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