Active Defender announced on Monday, Dec. 18 that it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase 1 contract in the amount of $74,836 focused on continued development of the company’s emergency alerting/communication application to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). 

The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution.

“We are extremely appreciative for the opportunity to work with the U.S. Air Force to further develop the capabilities of our Active Defender application through the SBIR grant. School safety and security is our passion and we are excited to explore providing our technology to Department of Defense schools as well as its potential utilization outside of educational Institution,” shared Active Defender Founder/CEO Jim Boyte in a press release. 

The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now, as of December 15, 2023, Active Defender will start its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.