Orlando-based USEncryption Inc. has won a rare federal contract, which the CEO says may help his tech firm become the go-to method to process confidential information.
Why this story matters: USEncryption’s technology stands to innovate the way businesses handle their protected data. Plus, this government contract can lead to bigger awards down the road, which may generate local job creation.
USEncryption scored a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology, a federal agency that creates standards and best practices for organizations and other government agencies to follow.
Working with the institute opens up a huge opportunity for USEncryption because the federal agency previously adopted encryption and technology standards that now are commonplace, CEO Leandro Veltri told Orlando Inno.
“We have a pretty big moonshot here,” Veltri said. “NIST would regulate and define the standards that are used.”
Founded in 2018, USEncryption’s Encrypted Operator Computing lets users extract insights from encrypted data without having to decrypt it first. Typically data needs to be decrypted to be usable, but USEncryption’s methods means encrypted data can be used for purposes like training machine learning models, reducing the chance of data loss or theft.
Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. estimates enhanced use of open data that’s readable by machines can create $3 trillion in global economic value.
The National Institute of Standards & Technology awarded USEncryption the grant to study the cipher the tech firm uses to encrypt data. USEncryption’s cipher will be put to the same tests as the Advanced Encryption Standard, which is one of the most common encryption standards, and the standard used by the U.S. government, thanks to the institute.
USEncryption this year is one of 12 recipients across the country of a National Institute of Standards & Technology Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant, which federal agencies give to small businesses to fund innovative projects. This award is a Phase I grant, but agencies can follow those with Phase II or Phase II grants, which can be worth millions of dollars.
Of course, USEncryption aims to score more funding and validation from the National Institute of Standards & Technology, Veltri said. “About half of the companies that receive Phase I grants get Phase II… We want to deliver certain results making our encryption method credible and valid in the eyes of NIST.”
USEncryption aims to bring its technology to market in 2024.
The company was born from patented technology developed by a University of Central Florida professor and a Boston University professor. USEncryption licensed that technology and now is a seven-person company based at the UCF Research Park business incubator.
Contract awards from the National Institute of Standards & Technology are not common in Central Florida. The UCF Business Incubator Program says USEncryption is the first company in the region to win one of the institute's Small Business Innovation Research grants in more than a decade, and federal contract data shows only eight metro Orlando companies have received the National Institute of Standards & Technology contracts of any kind since 2008.
“These grants are extremely rare, just two other UCF Business Incubation Program clients have received them ever,” said Carol Ann Logue, director of programs and operations for UCF’s Innovation Districts & Incubation Program. “To qualify, you have to have a platform innovation that can be used across and impact everyday life.”
Federal contracts of all kinds are big business in Central Florida. Metro Orlando companies alone landed $5.3 billion worth of federal contract obligations in fiscal-year 2022, according to the U.S. government’s spending database. Orange County, the home of two big Lockheed Martin Corp. campuses and a defense-focused simulation hub, was the site of $4.7 billion of those spending obligations.
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