Wichita has been selected as one of five Department of Defense innovation site hubs.
The U.S. Defense Department selected the FirePoint Innovations Center on Wichita State University's campus as a connecting hub between the government and small businesses, the organization announced Thursday. The hub will connect small- to medium-sized businesses and academia in Kansas and other Plains states with the Defense Department.
FirePoint's Rob Carpenter will serve as the managing director of the new Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub under the umbrella of the Great Plains Mission Acceleration Center, or MAC, which will be housed in FirePoint's offices. The Great Plains MAC will obtain requests for innovative ideas or products needed. The MAC will connect with small manufacturers in their home state to see if they can find a solution to the issue the government asks about. If a business is able to help, the MAC will serve as the go-between.
"It'll be driven by what the mission partners are asking for," Carpenter said. "We're going to be running some things called challenges. The first challenge will be in support of McConnell (Air Force Base)."
Carpenter is an aerospace engineer who has previously worked for Cessna and Airbus.
"We're a connector for mission partners that have challenges and ideas and problems," Carpenter said. "We're the place where we bring in small businesses. So the mission partner will come with an idea and say, 'We want to address this challenge we're having.'"
Four other Defense Innovation OnRamp Hubs
The other four sites chosen for hubs are in Arizona, Hawaii, Ohio and Washington, although the one in Wichita is the only hub connected with a university.
The MACs will deliver programming to the National Security Network. The model may also work with venture capital investors to accelerate tech innovation and manufacturing.
"All of the locations are going to be similar to us in that we are a small group of people who are working to connect the larger ecosystem of companies and entrepreneurs, academics that are developing technologies," Carpenter said.
If the problem requires a facility outside the state, the hub will ask for help from other hubs and move to other companies in their region.
"We utilize our contacts in the region to see 'Is there somebody who's working on this type of technology,' connect them and say, 'Hey, is there an opportunity for the two of you to work together to quickly solve this problem directly?'" Carpenter said. "And then the benefit of us being a part of this national network is we can then open it up across Arizona, Hawaii, Ohio and Washington."
In addition, the Wichita-based MAC can partner with other universities or businesses.
The Great Plains MAC partnered with Pittsburg State University in November to host its first OnRamp Hub event.
Wichita boasts being a top manufacturing community, holding the rank of No. 1 in percentage of "very high-tech" manufacturing jobs and No. 4 in manufacturing jobs as a percentage of all jobs, as compared to 100 of the largest U.S. cities, according to the Greater Wichita Partnership.
“The OnRamp Hub program is designed to tear down barriers between the private sector, defense and homeland security operations to accelerate technology deployment,” Steve Cyrus, FirePoint executive director, said in a news release. “We’re extremely excited to bring this new opportunity to businesses here in Kansas and the region to give them a competitive advantage.”
What does FirePoint Innovations do?
Although the Great Plains MAC will be under the FirePoint umbrella, its mission will be different. It will work with all Defense Department locations, not just the Army.
FirePoint Innovations started five years ago with the goal to help startups in Wichita process ideas or widgets they think could help the Army, including the Army’s Combat Capabilities Command and its Aviation and Missile Center. The organization works in partnership with the Army and is tasked with identifying new technologies.
