Mini-Mag - Issue 03

ISSUE

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EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Comments/questions phase3editor@dawnbreaker.com dawnbreaker.com

@Dawnbreaker

Jenny Servo, Ph.D.

MANAGING EDITOR

Julie S. Krull

20 18

DESIGNER

Annie Browar

This mini-mag is a companion to the Phase III magazine that Dawnbreaker has produced since 2008.

We felt that another publication that shared information regarding the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program would help those who aspire to Phase III commercialization success. As Commercialization is also a metric of success for organizations involved with technology transfer, topics of interest to universities and federal labs will also be included.

FEATURES

2

6

COMMERCIALIZATION

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Commercialization Strategies

Advanced Manufacturing

8

11

15

WEBSITE

MANUFACTURING

DIVERSITY

What is a CMS and Do I need One?

From R&D to Product Production

Hispanic Entrepreneurs

16

SUCCESS STORY

Diamond Visionics

CURRENT SBIR SOLICITATIONS

DOT

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FY18 DOT SBIR Solicitation

NIST

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

FY 2018 NIST SBIR Phase I Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

DAWNBREAKER®

HHS

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

HHS Funding Opportunities

C O M MERCI AL I ZATI ON

Commercialization

BY JENNY C. SERVO, PH.D.

The phrase “commercialization strategy” is used frequently in the literature associated with the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. In most solicitations it is referenced in the following fashion “your company’s strategy for converting the proposed research into a product or a non-R&D service with widespread commercial use— including private sector and/or military markets”— but what does that mean? How can this concept be operationalized in a way that is useful?

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After

reflecting upon the stage-gate model of new product development expert Dr. Robert G. Cooper, it seemed both useful and instructive to define commercialization strategy for small advanced technology firms in the following way: A commercialization strategy is the series of financing options that a company entertains to move its technology from concept to the marketplace.

Milestones

Dr. Cooper defined thirteen steps, also known as milestones or gates, associated with the successful introduction of new products in large businesses. At each step an evaluation of the opportunity is conducted and an additional round of funding is requested to support the subsequent stage of development. A go/no-go decision is made at each evaluation point [gate]. It is important to note that the milestones in Table 1 are NOT all technical in nature, and that market, technical and financial assessments are made in an iterative fashion throughout the commercialization process.

Table 1 Stage Gate Model – Robert Cooper

Step 01

Step 08

Step 02

Step 09

Step 03

Step 10

Step 04

Step 11

Step 05

Step 12

Step 06

Step 13

Initial Screening Preliminary market assessment Preliminary technical assessment Detailed market study Predevelopment business/financial analysis Product development

Customer test of products Trial sell

Trial production Precommercialization business analysis Production start-up Market launch

Step 07

In-house product test

The milestones for an SBIR-funded technology do not have to be identical to the steps identified

by Cooper. However, the milestones should be meaningful to the technology at hand and critical for continued technology maturation. Sample milestones might include securing FDA approval, flight certification, or becoming ISO 9001 certified. However, it is important to keep in mind that the milestones selected should not all be technical in nature, but must include others such as Intellectual Property Protection, Market Test and Scale-up, as appropriate.

Milestones are half of the equation, with potential funding sources being the other vital ingredient, which defines a commercialization strategy. Small businesses are not financially well-endowed and therefore, unlike large firms, must turn outwards when seeking additional funding for growth.

Sources of external funding, to which small businesses often turn, include Federal Agencies, business angels, Fortune 500 companies, venture capital and state-level departments of economic development. When turning to these external sources for funding, it is vital that the small business understand the expectations that each funding source has and what criteria it uses to evaluate whether or not it will invest and/or provide funding to the small business.

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Figure 1: Roadmap of Financial Options SBIR & STTR Funding Basic Science Mission

Founders > > > I N C R E A S E D T E C H N O L O G Y M AT U R I T Y > > >

Sweat Equity

On spec

NIH NSF

Science for Hire

DOE

DHS DOC DOT ED EPA USDA

Debt

State Corporations

SBDC. Economic Dev.

Family / Friends

Licensing Partnerships Subcontracts

Banks

Other

Leasing

Equity

Accountants Brokers Association

Consultants

Attorneys

Databases

Bankers

Print Media

Business Angels Venture Capital Investment Banker

Profit

Management’s vision serves as an anchor point. Any strategy must begin with a reflection upon what management wishes to achieve in the future.

This begins with a personal search to decide if the firm is to remain a contract R&D house and license the technology to others, or if the firm is to perform most business functions itself (manufacturing, sales, customer support).

These are important considerations and they affect the preliminary shape of the commercialization strategy.

A commercialization strategy will also be affected by personal philosophies about business. Some founders start with the desire to grow the company without giving up any equity. Others may decide that they don’t care who else makes money from their business, as long as they retain the right to do what they enjoy most and make good money in the process. Such philosophies usually go unexpressed, but certainly affect the choices made by an entrepreneur in developing a commercialization strategy.

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Applied

Federal

Figure 1 shows the most common financing options. The financing options available to a firm vary over time and depend upon a number of items, including the management’s vision for the future, business philosophy, stage of technology development, market risk, competitive activities and window of opportunity. The manner in which these items affect the choice of financing options is discussed in the figure below.

4

DoD NASA

Hybrid

Vision, business philosophies, and a logical assessment of market opportunities are all important considerations to make in developing your commercialization strategy.

Stage-Gate Process

A value based roadmap for driving product innovation projects from idea concept to launch and beyond.

Companies that are developing a technology platform with the ability to affect multiple industries must also include an assessment of which applications they think they will develop first. This should be discussed in their commercialization strategy and potential markets rank ordered in terms of their readiness. A company should position itself to hit market windows of opportunity.

Table 2: Vision: Life-style firm

Business Philosophy: I am in business to do what I enjoy!

Milestone Financing

Method

Start-up

Sweat equity

Concept development

SBIR Phase 1

Intellectual property protection

Retained earnings

Application Development

Licensee

Production

Licensee

Table 2 is a simple expression of a commercialization strategy.

It is referred to as a licensing strategy, as this was the last step in the process. A clarification of the vision and the business philosophy are identified and then major milestones and financing methods are outlined.

It is important to note that a company with this vision will not be of interest to an equity investor, as the objectives of the founder are not aligned with said investor. Therefore, the vision shapes the funding options that are available. In this strategy, manufacturing, customer support, marketing and sales are all done by the licensee. This is a shared approach to bringing a product to market, where the government provides some funding, as do the company founders and the licensee.

Advanced technology firms have a voracious appetite for capital. Therefore, when one has developed a preliminary commercialization strategy, it can be further expanded and turned into action items.

When examined in this fashion [milestones and potential funding sources], the concept of “commercialization strategy� becomes a powerful heuristic that can assist small businesses in understanding the multi-faceted activities associated with transforming a concept into a product with widespread commercial use.

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M A R K ET SNAPSHOT

Advanced Manufacturing With science and technology continually advancing, how do you define advanced manufacturing?

BY ELIZA GOUGH

Broadly speaking, advanced manufacturing uses innovative technology to improve products or processes. Given the broad definition of advanced manufacturing, several markets fall under its umbrella.

Manufacturing.gov provides a glossary covering key terms in advanced manufacturing with helpful definitions for growing areas such as smart manufacturing, Rapid Prototyping, Robotics, Digital Manufacturing, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM), 3D Printing, and Additive Manufacturing.

As part of the advanced manufacturing market, MarketsandMarkets reports that the smart factory market is forecast to be valued at $205.42 billion by 2022, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3%, between 2017 and 2022.

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The group attributes this growth to the increase in adoption of industrial robots, and the evolution of Internet of Things (IoT). Furthermore, distributed control system (DCS) technology is expected to hold the largest share of the overall smart factory market in 2017. As described by MnM, DCS is used to offer regulatory controls to the manufacturing process industry and provides the finest control for the regulatory applications and is used for the integration of power measuring devices, drives, and soft starters. Integration of motor managing data in the DCS helps in real-time monitoring of the motors and is used to detect the failures in the motors before their occurrences. In terms of the major players in this space, the following components, equipment manufacturers, system integrators, and

distributors provide noteworthy offerings: ABB Ltd.(Switzerland), Atos SE (France), Emerson Electric Co. (U.S.), FANUC Corporation (Japan), General Electric Co. (U.S.), Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Rockwell Automation, Inc. (U.S.), Schneider Electric SE (France), Siemens AG (Germany), and Yokogawa Electric Corporation (Japan).

Frost & Sullivan also provides extensive coverage of the advanced manufacturing space, including digital manufacturing technologies, which have experienced significant technological growth in the past few years. As part of this growth, industries are looking to utilize “digital intelligence� to promote the efficient sharing of information, product or process related,

between the equipment and the enterprise. In its coverage of additive manufacturing, Frost & Sullivan notes that the market is growing at a CAGR of 15% from 2015-2015, with the aerospace, automotive, and medical industries expected to account for 51% of the 3D printing market by 2025.

In its coverage of additive manufacturing, BCC Research reports that the global market for 3D printing will grow from nearly $3.7 billion in 2016 to more than $10.4 billion by 2021, with a CAGR of 23.2% for the period of 2016-2021 and the market for 3D printing materials reached $475.4 million in 2015. BCC Research reports that the market for 3D printing materials is expected to reach $576.6 million in 2016 and over $1.5 billion in 2021, registering a compound annual growth (CAGR) of 21.5% over the next five years. In terms of the 3D metal print industry, BCC Research anticipates that solutions to challenges in this space will lead to a major increase in additive manufacturing-produced metal products by 2021. According to the reports, metal products produced by additive manufacturing had a value of about $210 million in 2016, which is just a small portion the $10-plus trillion global manufacturing market. By 2021, BCC Research predicts new SLM software, alongside consistent optimized powders, could drive this figure just more than $2 billion. As noted by MarketsandMarkets, the major players in the 3D printing market include: Stratasys Ltd. (US), 3D Systems Corporation (US), EOS GmbH (Germany), Materialise NV (Belgium), SLM Solutions Group AG (Germany), Arcam AB (Sweden), Concept Laser GmbH (Germany), The ExOne Company (US), Voxeljet AG (Germany), Proto Labs, Inc. (US), Optomec Inc. (US), ARC Group Worldwide, Inc. (US), GROUPE GORGÉ (France), EnvisionTEC GmbH (Germany),

Mcor Technologies Ltd. (Ireland), Beijing Tiertime Technology Co. Ltd. (China), Renishaw plc (UK), XYZprinting (Taiwan), Ultimaker BV (Netherlands), Koninklijke DSM N.V. (Netherlands), Höganäs AB (Sweden), taulman3D, LLC (US), Nano Dimension (Israel), Carbon Inc. (US), Markforged, Inc. (US), and Cookson Precious Metals Ltd. (UK).

In early February 2018 the National Science and Technology Council, Subcommittee on Advanced Manufacturing (NSTC SAM) published a Request for Information (RFI) as part of its plan to develop a National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing. The intent of this plan is to improve Government coordination and provide long-term guidance for Federal programs and activities in support of United States manufacturing competitiveness, including advanced manufacturing research and development over the next five to ten years. The RFI indicates that input is requested from the public, including stakeholders from industry, academia, and non-profits active in advanced manufacturing, that may be used as input into developing the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing.

Additionally, the Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office provides information on funding opportunities, roadmaps, strategic plans, and events.

In April 2017 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report discussing a December 2016 agreement among the Departments of Defense (DOD), Energy (DOE), and Commerce (Commerce) to establish 11 manufacturing innovation institutes. The Manufacturing USA institutes are part a national strategy to build a strong and vibrant domestic industrial base.

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7

W E B SI TES

<CMS> WHAT IS A

AND DO I NEED ONE?

BY DAVID HUNT

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A

Content Management System – commonly referred to as a CMS – is an application that allows the owner of a website to update, edit and manage the content. Sans a CMS, owners either have to 1) be proficient in the language used to write the website, for example, HTML, or 2) be at their developer’s whim (and expense) for common website updates. Before we get into whether or not a CMS is right for you – let’s first begin with by considering why you want to keep your website updated. Google has one job and one job only: To give its users what they are looking for. When a user types in a search term, the Google search engine scours the Internet trying to deliver the sites the user wants to see. But how does the search engine determine the rankings?

This all plays into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and while there are hundreds of components to the algorithms used by Google and other major search engines, one very important factor is updated content. Google doesn’t want to deliver a tenyear-old website in its rankings, for fear the website might be old, outdated, or even out of business. Continually updated content is ranked favorably by Google, and communicates that your business is not only up and running, but on top of its game in the website department. How often should you update content on your website? I like to recommend a refresh every two months.

It’s enough to keep content fresh, but not enough where you are scrambling for information. So with a two-month goal in mind, let’s now turn to the Content Management System.

In order to facilitate website updates, a CMS is comprised of a user-friendly interface that guides you through adding or editing content. No HTML language is needed – everything is written in plain text. Imagery on the website can be swapped out or added, new pages can be created, along with new image galleries, news, and homepage content. If developed correctly you will have the ability to make adjustments to the navigation, homepage imagery and even the page structure (to an extent). In-depth changes to both structure and functionality will still need to be done by your developer, however most of the changes that users usually request are easily accomplished by a CMS. You might be thinking – great! How do I get a CMS? Here is the reality – you cannot “get” a CMS – a CMS is essentially the platform on which your site is built. So unless your site was built using a CMS in the first place, this is not an add-on accessory.

It’s almost like building a bigger basement after your house is built – you just can’t do it. But here’s the good news – if you are considering a website upgrade/redesign, request that it be developed in a CMS right off the bat. Another piece of good news is that most CMS’s are completely free – that’s right - FREE! You just have to find a developer who will build the site using a common CMS such as WordPress. You of course, would need to pay for the website redesign and construction. Let’s look at the benefits and cost savings associated with starting fresh.

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BENEFITS OF BUILDING A NEW SITE WITH A CMS Obviously, there are many factors that go into the decision to build a brand new website.

Timing, budget, and manpower are just a few of the things that must be right in order to justify the investment. But when you are ready, and feel that some of these benefits may apply to you, then seeking out a developer who routinely builds websites with Content Management Systems is the way to go when hiring your next contractor!

You take charge of your own SEO We discussed this right off the bat. Google doesn’t want to deliver a ten-year-old website in its rankings, for fear the website might be old, outdated, or even out of business. Continually updated content is ranked favorably by Google, and communicates that your business is not only up and running, but on top of its game in the website department. Google will reward updated content accordingly by assigning the site a more favorable ranking.

You can better inform your customers/clients We’re not talking about sitting down every few months and re-writing your entire content. Maybe you have a press release you just put out; maybe your firm got highlighted in the local business section; maybe you won a Tibbetts award; or maybe you just have a very cool announcement you’d like to put on your homepage. All of these things are possible to communicate with a CMS. Your customers and potential clients can be well-informed of all that you are doing, and are not left to wonder what is going on.

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Empowers you to update content without doling it out to contractors The first thing I ask when a company requests that we update their website is – Who will be hosting your site? Often a client may not know the answer, but “hosting” is charged on a monthly or yearly basis and it’s a way to keep your website “live.” So getting a hosting bill every month or every year is normal and expected. However, the person who hosts your site is rarely the person who updates your content. While you may have hired a developer up front to design your website, chances are the website is not being updated, unless you have somebody designated within your firm who can handle this. This is why you should NOT be getting continually billed from your developer, unless you are on some sort of maintenance plan. If content has not been updated since you built the site, then a CMS would be right for you. This allows you to shift the task from a contractor to somebody within your firm, perhaps the writer or person responsible for press releases.

You can easily take advantage of plug-ins Does your website require a certain functionality that seems like it may be a costly addition? The beauty of plug-ins is that most of these functionalities have already been written and can be added to your site at any time through the CMS. Whether it is a calendar to show all upcoming events, an extensive gallery featuring your portfolio of products or a simple search functionality to help users find what they are looking for on your site, these are all easily integrated into your website via your CMS. These plug-ins are all available, and many are FREE to use.

M ANUFAC T URIN G

MANUFACTURING 101:

From R&D to Product Production

BY ROBERT LARSEN

As a technology matures, R&D firms often consider whether they should become a manufacturer, contract-out production to a third party, or license the technology to another entity. What should an R&D firm consider in making this decision? How does the starting point for an R&D firm differ from that of a manufacturer deciding whether or not to take on another product line?

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A mature manufacturer is well-versed in contracts, contract requirements and associated risks. Before production begins, the company will have a mutual, written agreement in place with the contracting office (customer). A mature manufacturer also understands fully the steps to be taken during production and the necessary business infrastructure required to support the new opportunity. During the planning stage, the design and development process is prepared and the tooling required for the program identified. The specifications needed for procurement are ready and the selection of qualified suppliers and sub-contractors is accomplished. All of these items are addressed before production begins.

If, by contrast, a company is new to production, the organization must learn to address these issues and put in place risk mitigating processes. The company must decide how to best address Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) and Full Rate Production (FRP) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; both of which will need to be approached analytically and with full documentation. While the aspiration and desire to manufacture a product may be present in an R&D firm, the necessary resources and the aptitude for this business function may not be present. What to do? What are the next steps? What options are available?

It is necessary that a small business identify and review core competencies and skills â&#x20AC;&#x201C; making certain that this assessment is grounded in reality, not in aspirations for the future. Long and short-term goals should be laid out with the necessary manufacturing capabilities and the funding requirements assessed. Once this is accomplished, a plan of action can and must be developed. It should be kept in mind that a bad decision at this point can throw a business off its game, possibly causing irreparable damage.

The Options So, what options are open to small R&D 12

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Manufacturing Options for Small R&D Firms

Risk Level

Financial Return

In-house Manufacturing and Marketing

High

High

Contract-out production to an established Manufacturing Firm

Mid to High

Mid

License Rights to a Manufacturing Firm

Low

Low

Table 1

firms looking to break into manufacturing? Three options should be considered, each of which has its own distinct risk factors (see Table 1).

The company could decide to manufacture and market the product itself utilizing inhouse resources. This option carries with it potentially high risk, especially if the company is new to manufacturing. The cost of entry will be significant, requiring an investment in personnel, facilities, capital equipment and material. Ensuring at the outset that the company has both the human and financial resources that will be required is critical for successful delivery of quality products, on time and on budget.

A second option is to partner with an established manufacturing company, which could serve as a contract manufacturer.

For a small firm, this option has mid-tohigh level risk. The small business still has contractual obligations. However, the small business can avoid the costs associated with scale-up and may also be perceived as a more credible supplier, if a reputable third party is used.

The third option open is to license the rights to a manufacturing and distribution company. This option is low risk, and depending on the agreement, synergy with the licensee, the strength of the intellectual property, and the industry - licensing may yield a low to modest return on investment. A small business can negotiate the transfer of contract liability to the licensee, as long as the customer and contracting officer are in agreement. This would relieve the small business of most, if not all, contractual liability.

Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) is the phase of initial, small-quantity production of the product, for a defined period of time, typically after the prototype has been fully qualified (tested and accepted). This process tests the manufacturing and produce-ability process and will surface any issues that need to be addressed before full rate production.

Full Rate Production (FRP) is the phase when a standard amount of product quantity is required per month by government or contracting agent, as outlined by the contract or purchase order.

Small businesses with limited manufacturing knowledge and/or experience may find it beneficial to engage a third party to assist in deciding which option works best. Critical to the decision-making process is a design for manufacturing review, the development of a model manufacturing process, and the costing and simulation of the manufacturing process at different production levels (LRIP and FRP), including both inventory and logistics considerations. This effort can ensure both the customer and investor feel secure with the launch of a new product. Once the manufacturing option has been decided upon, there are guidelines to be followed to ensure success in the manufacturing sector.

Key Success Factors For those firms that are looking to become a Phase III supplier either commercially and/or to the Department of Defense, the road to success begins with a very careful reading of the contract and mapping deliverables and performance expectations to the contract. Ambiguity in a contract and making assumptions can prove to be expensive and detrimental to a business. Failure to deliver on the terms of a contract can result in contract default.

No matter which manufacturing option you decide upon, it is vital that performance expectations be written into an agreement that is acceptable to and understood by both parties. The most basic and fundamental step a company should make, at the outset, is to tie deliverables and performance requirements back to the contract. If this is not done, assumptions will be made and the relationship will go awry.

If any of the production is to be outsourced to a manufacturing firm, be sure to select a company with a quality reputation for the sustainable production of a product of this type. Selecting a manufacturing partner should be done via a systematic and well-documented process. The potential partner should be financially viable, have a compatible culture and have appropriate engineering staff, facilities and manufacturing capabilities.

Irrespective of the strategy selected, it is vital to maintain consistent customer/supplier contact via e-mail, phone, and face-to-face meetings. While the meetings may only be twice a year, quarterly or monthly, there is no substitute for meeting in person. Doing so reduces miscommunication which can ultimately result in considerable cost savings.

Planning is Imperative for Manufacturing Success O1

Engineering Design Plan This is the design plan for the product to be manufactured. It should be well thought out, detailed and documented. The plan should be mapped to product performance and/or product contract deliverables.

O2

Manufacturing Engineering Plan The manufacturing engineering plan will include the blueprints, tooling/floor space schematics and work instructions to ensure the product makes a seamless transition from design engineering to manufacturing.

O3

Manufacturing Plan The manufacturing plan must consider manufacturing floor space for uninterrupted flow, the control, evaluation and calibration of all tools, jigs and test figures, as well as material handling processes training and environmental issues.

O4

Quality Plan The quality plan should be mapped to the product performance and/or contract deliverables and should consider all aspects of the process, from design through final testing/qualification.

O5

Procurement Plan This plan should consider alternative suppliers, sole source suppliers and/or international suppliers. There needs to be a supplier qualification and rating process in place.

O6

Configuration Control (Traceability) This contractual requirement necessitates a documented plan to maintain configuration control by finished product serial number and a documented audit process to ensure control is maintained.

O7

Life Cycle Support Plan This may be a contractual requirement, which means that the company needs to have and maintain sufficient amounts of spare parts and support mechanism. This is to ensure the customer will have a functioning product over a predetermined period of time.

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Manufacturing Quality: ISO and ISO 9000 Defined ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 157 countries, with one member per country, and a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. Its purpose is to facilitate international trade by providing a single set of standards that are recognized and respected. ISO is a nongovernmental organization that occupies a special position between the public and private sectors.

The ISO 9000 is among ISO’s best known standards and addresses quality management. ISO 9000 currently includes three quality standards: ISO 9000:2005, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 9004:2000. ISO 9001:2000 presents requirements, while ISO 9000:2005 and ISO 9004:2000 present guidelines. All of these are process standards, not product standards.

ISO’s purpose is to facilitate international trade by providing a single set of standards that people everywhere would recognize and respect. Manufacturing plants that receive certification can attest that their stated quality processes are adhered to in practice. The ISO 9000:2000 standards apply to all kinds of organizations in all kinds of areas. Some of these areas include:

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DIV ERS ITY

According to the most recent Census Bureau,

Hispanics represent the single largest ethnic group in this country.

17.8% of the U.S. population / 57.5 million Hispanic-owned businesses: 4 million | Total revenue: $660 billion

WA ME

MT

ND

VT

NH

MN

OR ID

WI

SD WY

IL

UT

OH

KS

DC

IN

CO

CA

CT

RI

PA

IA

NE

NV

MA

NY

MI

WV

MO

NJ DE

VA

KY

NC

AK OK

NM

AZ

TN SC

AR MS

AL

GA

TX LA

Pacific Region

1,057,301

FL

companies

HI

PR

South Atlantic Region West South Central Region

BY JULIE S. KRULL

921,000

964,000 companies

companies

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15

SU C C E SS STORY

| Where are They Now? |

BY JULIE S. KRULL

D

iamond Visionics has always envisioned two main goals – to take the pilot training experience and make it as close to real-life as possible and provide it for the lowest cost. The company defined that need first

with the Navy, and noticed that pilot simulation training at the time was limited to pre-defined database areas all over the world. This worldwide database presented a significant cost challenge to model the world. The challenge was resolved with a new software architecture that created the world directly from source data. Huge savings were realized because Diamond Visionics’ powerful algorithms eliminated

the massive labor intensive work necessary to create the world.

The company utilized funding from the Navy’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to turn this vision into a reality. The technology, which eventually evolved into its patented GenesisRTX product line, has realized substantial success in both military and commercial (including international) markets with revenues of $25.5 million.

Boeing is one of DVC’s largest customers 16

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to date, and they employ its Enterprise “A lot of companies are in the visual simuAgreement with GenesisIG image gen- lation field, and we all create a pretty piceration software and GenesisSN sensor ture. But what we do is different,” explains software on its systems including the F-15, Jason Gdovin, Marketing Services at DiaF-16 and F-22 simulators. BAE UK uses mond Visionics. “We create the scene in its Enterprise Agreement to utilize Gen- real time, in 1/60th of a second. This onesisIG for its F-35 Program and Typhoon, the-fly rendering directly from source data as well as multiple UAV programs for its provides the human in the loop with more maritime simulations in the United King- resolution and content and is what sets dom. In addition, DVC has a network of us apart from our competitors who have resellers across the globe. to develop a more expensive and time

SBIR allows you to tie in a proof of concept, and get the teams of people excited about what it is we’re trying to create...The program gives you a problem to solve, and we know there is a true customer at the end of the tunnel in need of the solution.

consuming database. This means you can fly around the globe, from place to place, and view more of everything in real time.”

This real-time rendering allows the user to rapidly change data sets with continuity, and eliminates the need to create an offline static database. The high-resolution graphics allow for a life-like flight representation to and from anywhere in the world.

After a successful Phase I with the Navy, DVC began its Phase II portion of the project, and subsequently joined the Navy TAP. Not long after, Genesis was selected for use on the Boeing AH-64 Apache simulator and on contracts with the Navy such as KC-130T and DMRT. “The TAP and the Navy Opportunity Forum® made it possible for us to get our newly developed products in front of business executives and military decision makers,” said Gdovin. “This is how technology that solves

problems, saves money, and sometimes saves lives get recognized quickly.”

Commercially, DVC works with several helicopter customers like Airbus, Leonardo, and ESG in the European marketplace.

Visionics has updated its software to work on Level-D simulators and the team is excited to enter this commercial realm because of their past SBIR work.

Diamond Visionics employs 16 people at its headquarters in Upstate New York, and continues to pursue the federal SBIR program to solve critical needs for the government and industry alike.

Diamond Visionics is taking its simulations below the surface of the ocean, in an effort to provide realistic submarine training. Above water, the company is working with a new water model that is set to be “SBIR allows you to tie in a proof of conreleased soon. cept, and get the teams of people excited about what it is we’re trying to create,” At the beginning of the year, the com- adds Gdovin. “The program gives you a pany announced the release of its newest problem to solve, and we know there is a GenesisRTX version 10.5.3, which con- true customer at the end of the tunnel in tains some major technology upgrades need of that solution.” and new feature enhancements. Some of these features include high resolution dynamic ground tracks, the ability to reproject flat-earth Open-Flight models into Diamond Visionics round earth coordinates for loading into 400 Plaza Dr # A, GenesisRTX, underwater explosions, and Vestal, NY 13850 improved surface reflections. Diamond diamondvisionics.com MINI-MAG

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