Southern Indiana Business Report
BEDFORD — A Bloomington-based company, MSP Manufacturing, won first
place in the fourth-annual Crane IP Defense Innovation Pitch Competition on June 27.
Radius Indiana sponsored the virtual competition in coordination with Elevate Ventures, Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane Division (NSWC Crane), the Indiana Small Business
Development Center (ISBDC), and The Mill. Judges included southwestern Indiana defense and economic development leaders who had previous experience with pitch competitions and knowledge of NSWC Crane.
The top three contestants shared cash prizes totaling $12,000.
- Junctional Tourniquet ($6,000 prize): MSP Manufacturing, led by Johnny
Goode, looks to simplify the current tourniquet market and aims to decrease
the number of preventable deaths caused by blood loss. Goode’s plan involves
creating smaller, more compact tourniquets that can more easily be carried
and used in an emergency for civilian or law enforcement use. - EdgeDeploy™: ($4,000 prize): C3I Tech, LLC, led by David Charlot, offers
collaborative directed energy enabling autonomous drones to become acoustic
hailing devices in support of DoD/industrial/maritime security and surveillance.
This non-lethal defense focused product helps rapidly determine the intent of
an adversary (or non-adversary) using collective intelligence (ML). - Hummingbird ($2,000 prize): OneO[Q], presented by Dr. Hossein Alisafaee,
is creating a drone system for churches, schools, malls, and similar
environments to be the first defense against threats until authorities arrive on
the scene.
“I was very interested in the technology for my product the second I read about it. The Mill and NSWC Crane Tech Transfer officer were extremely helpful as I prepared for the competition,” said Goode. “Our goal is to provide valuable technology to our warfighter, law enforcement personnel, and fire responders. I am personally excited about introducing new technology to former teammates and friends of mine.”
Radius Indiana created the royalty-free IP pitch competition as an opportunity for interested businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs to take advantage of NSWC Crane’s Rapid Response Licensing Program, which launched in Spring 2020 in response to COVID-19. The competition offered royalty-free access for those who seek to commercialize patented technologies and concepts developed at NSWC Crane.
“I greatly enjoyed listening to the pitches of each of the entrepreneurial teams, and I look
forward to seeing the progress they will make as they continue to develop the technology. It is always exciting to see technologies available from Crane transition to industry,” said Amanda McCullough, acting intellectual property portfolio manager for NSWC Crane.
This event was the sixth pitch competition hosted by Radius since 2019. These competitions have included pitch opportunities for high school students, adults, startups and established businesses or products and ideas.
“We are so grateful for the opportunity each year to host this competition and on behalf of
Radius we would like to congratulate this year’s winners,” said Blaine Parker, director of
entrepreneurship and small business support for Radius Indiana. “Radius is dedicated to the defense ecosystem in southern Indiana and we look forward to seeing what’s next for our pitchers and NSWC Crane.”
To view NSWC Crane’s entire IP portfolio, please visit www.techlinkcenter.org.