Washington, D.C. (January 29, 2020) -- The U.S. Army today announced the selection of 20 small business and technology firms to advance to Phase III of the xTechSearch 4.0 technology prize competition. xTechSearch is an Army-sponsored competition focused on finding the best in "dual-use" technology solutions, developed by American tech entrepreneurs and small businesses, that have both defense and commercial applications.
"The 20 selected entrepreneurs and companies presented incredible capabilities and systems that we would have not otherwise seen or been able to support had it not been for Army xTechSearch," said Dr. Bruce D. Jette, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.
The following firms were selected to advance to the xTechSearch Phase III event in Huntsville, Al. in March of 2020:
• Battle Sight Technologies of Dayton, Ohio
• Bounce Imaging of Buffalo, N.Y.
• DroneShield LLC of Warrenton, Va.
• FastVDO LLC of Melborne, Fl.
• FLITE Material Sciences US, Inc. of Somerville, Ma.
• GeneCapture, Inc. of Huntsville, Al.
• Geopipe of New York, N.Y.
• Inductive Ventures of Marietta, Ga.
• IoTAI, Inc. of Fremont, Ca.
• Kericure, Inc. of Wesley Chapel, Fl.
• LumiShield Technologies, Inc. of Pittsburg, Pa.
• Lynq Technologies, Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y.
• MEI Micro, Inc. of Addison, Texas
• Multiscale Systems, Inc. of Worcester, Ma.
• NeuroFlow, Inc. of Philadelphia, Pa.
• NanoSystems Laboratory (nLab) of Chicago, Il.
• Novaa Ltd., of Dublin, Ohio
• Passenger, Inc. of Austin, Texas
• Primal Space Systems of Raleigh, N.C.
• Vita Inclinata Technologies of Broomfield, Co.
Jette said that, "… we must proactively and aggressively engage with innovators to see what new ideas, concepts, systems and sub-system components they can bring to the table." Dr. Jette launched xTechSearch in 2018 in an effort to spur competition and revolutionize the way the Army attracts and encourages innovation.
After four elimination rounds over a 12-month period, a grand prize of $250,000 is awarded to the winner during the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) annual conference in October.
BACKGROUND:
xTechSearch 4.0 went Coast-to-Coast in January, hosting three in-person pitch events in Playa Vista, Ca., Austin, Texas, and Philadelphia, Pa.
Now in its fourth iteration, Phase I of xTechSearch 4.0 started with over 300 white paper proposals in December, 2019. The papers were judged on the potential impact for modernizing the Army, scientific and engineering viability, its dual use potential, and overall proposal quality.
From these, 48 firms were selected for the live Phase II pitch events, and awarded $5,000. During Phase II, each competitor gave a 15-minute pitch to a panel of subject matter experts selected from across the Army.
In Phase III, participants will present a venture capital-style presentation discussing their business plan, product development plan, the results of any customer discovery with the Army and commercial users, and what they would present at a live proof-of-concept demonstration if selected for Phase IV. Up to 12 participants with the highest-ranking business plan and proof-of-concept demonstration proposal will receive a prize of $120,000, and six months to prepare their xTechSearch Proof-of-Concept demonstrations during AUSA in Washington, D.C.
Learn more about Army xTechSearch at https://www.xtechsearch.army.mil/.
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