Dr. Bruce Jette Opens Fourth Annual Innovator's Corner

WASHINGTON (October 8, 2018) -- The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)), Dr. Bruce D. Jette, officially opened Innovators' Corner at the Association of the United States Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition continuing his efforts to attract small/medium, non-defense businesses to the acquisition arena.

"For those of you here, I appreciate you listening to me, but frankly we are here to listen to you," Jette said. "Innovators' Corner is an area where you can express yourself, get noticed, be seen and be heard," he continued as he delivered remarks centered around the Army's first Expeditionary Technology Search (xTechSearch) competition.

This year's Innovators' Corner features the top 25 entrants in Phase III of the xTechSearch competition, which originally attracted more than 300 entrants in just its first year. "Innovators help us change the Army," he said.

"xTechSearch is designed to lower barriers and make it easier to be part of the process," Jette said noting that deliberately partnering with non-defense businesses can provide technical solutions to problems we don't know about yet.

xTechSearch was launched last June as a catalyst to engage with non-defense traditional small/medium businesses and individuals who have ideas and innovation that may benefit the Army.

The initial four phased competition offers nearly $2 million in awards in an effort to discover new technology to support the Army's six modernization priorities: Long-Range Precision Fires; Next Generation Combat Vehicles; Future Vertical Lift; Army Network; Air and Missile Defense; and Soldier Lethality.

Jette issued an invitation to attend the award ceremony at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, October 10, when 12 finalists are selected to receive $125,000 each and an invitation to compete in the final phase of xTechSearch, which consists of six months to develop a proof-of-concept and where one awardee will receive the top $200,000 award.