WASHINGTON, DC (September 11, 2020) – The U.S. Army announced the winner of the third xTechSearch competition at the virtual xTech 3 Summit event on Sept. 11, 2020.
TRX Systems based out of Greenbelt, Maryland took the top prize of $250,000 for their assured positioning, navigation, and timing technology: Dismount GPS-Denied and NAVWAR Threat Detection. Their technology delivers location indoors and underground, in areas where GPS is not reliable or available.
"In this process with xTech, especially with that last award, we were able to spend a lot more of our energy on business development. We submitted 19 proposals during this time and that was less than 18 months ago,” explained Carol Politi, president and CEO of TRX Systems, during her proof-of-concept demonstration. “We’ve had nine awards with eight pending. And we were able to land three phase III transition programs - including the ability to transition the specific innovation we proposed for xTech.”
“We are looking to take this technology and show how it can really change the impact of operations in GPS denied environments,” said Dr. Stephen Lee, senior technologist- senior scientist for the Army Research Office, and one of the xTechSearch finalist judges.
xTechSearch is a competition for small businesses – sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics), also known as ASA(ALT) – that was designed to revolutionize the way the Army attracts and encourages innovation.
"We structured xTechSearch as a competition, but we also wanted it to address other features. One of which was, how do I make it easy for you to present your ideas whether they were in a category we asked for or not? How do you get feedback and understand the problems or challenges to the military or understanding how to apply your innovative thoughts to the operational requirements?” said HON Bruce Jette, ASA(ALT) during his keynote address at the xTech 3 Summit. “What are we trying to pursue? We talk innovation, next generation, game changing. We have all sorts of buzz words but what we’re really looking for is something that is transformation. These transformational ideas really give us an opportunity we’ve never thought of before.”
The xTechSearch competition consists of four phases for participants to progress through and win prizes along the way, culminating in a proof-of-concept demonstration that was presented at a virtual xTech Summit event from September 9-11. The xTechSearch 3 finalists were the first to participate in an xTech Accelerator program that provided the finalists with educational programming, diverse mentorship, venture building consulting, strategic exposure, and community building.
The initial xTechSearch 3 finals were originally scheduled to take place in March at the AUSA Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Ala. Due to COVID-19 related challenges the finals were postponed until the virtual xTech 3 Summit event this week.
Dr. Matt Willis, director for laboratory management, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, Research and Technology (DASA RT), announced the xTechSearch 3 winner. “The Army realizes we need to be more adept, moving at the speed of innovation vice the speed of traditional acquisition. I really hope that initiatives like xTechSearch help us to realize this vision and these goals.”
For information about the program please visit the xTechSearch website.
About the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology):
The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology) provides the American Soldier with a decisive advantage in any mission by developing, acquiring, fielding, and sustaining the world's finest equipment and services; and by leveraging technologies and capabilities to meet current and future Army needs.
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