Austin-Based Futures Command Seeks Techies To Help Modernize

AUSTIN, TX — Small business owners and tech entrepreneurs will have the chance to pitch ideas to the Austin-based Army Futures Command to help solve modernization challenges, officials announced on Monday.

The xTechSearch pitch days scheduled on Jan. 14-15 will be hosted by the Army Futures Command and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. During the "pitch" days, tech entrepreneurs get a chance to talk through their idea with a team of U.S. Army experts drawn from related technology fields, officials explained.

The four-phase xTechSearch competition starts with a no-holds-barred call for information papers proposing a unique technology-based idea that could potentially innovate the U.S. Army, officials explained. The concept papers will be reviewed by a panel of Army experts, and up to 48 small businesses can be selected to receive a $5,000 prize.

Along with the initial prize comes an invitation to attend the competition's technology pitch, or Phase II. Over the next two phases (Phase III: Innovators' Corner and Phase IV: Proof of Concept) the competitors are reduced down to one final recipient of a $250,000 prize.

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The 2020 xTechSearch activities kicked off in the first week of January with xTechSearch 4.0 Phase II Pitch Days in Playa Vista, Calif., which focused on medical and human performance issues, officials noted. The next segment, will focus on potential innovations in combat vehicles, power and energy, vertical lift, long range precision fires, force protection, air and missile defense and logistics.

The program finishes up the month of January in Philadelphia with a command and control-intelligence focus.A distinction from other prize competitions is the holistic approach designed around the developmental success of all finalists. The 12 Phase IV finalists are not only awarded a significant monetary prize, but also are offered a slot in the xTech Accelerator, one of the most dynamic public-private hybrid programs in the Army focused on the science and technology community.

Events are scheduled to take place both days from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at The University of Texas at Austin Engineering Education and Research Center, 2501 Speedway. Tech's website can be found at: https://www.arl.army.mil/xtechsearch/.

Aimed at modernizing the U.S. Army, the 500-personnel U.S. Futures Command is tasked with devising military modernization techniques. Austin in 2018 emerged as the winning city to house the military function from a list of five finalist municipalities whittled down from a field of 150 contenders who had vied to land the military base.