May 2, 2003 — The Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) expects to add six more companies to its roster of industrial partners soon, a move designed to get better, lighter and more protective products to the nation’s armed forces.
The companies will join defense contractor Raytheon Co., chemical corporation DuPont and two Boston-area hospitals that are collaborating with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop chemical sensors and multifunctional battle suits, among other projects.
“We’re recruiting six industrial partners,” ISN Director Ned Thomas said at a recent conference in Washington, D.C. Thomas is also a professor of materials science and engineering at MIT, which received a five-year, $50 million award in 2002 from the U.S. Army to create the institute. Industry is expected to invest an additional $40 million.
MIT is finalizing deals with one major industrial partner, four companies considered small businesses and one company that will be categorized as “an interested industrial participant,” according to Eve Downing, director of outreach at ISN. They could name the new participants as early as May 22, the day MIT and the Army will dedicate the ISN’s facility in Cambridge.
As active members, the one major and four small business partners will contribute a combination of workers, funding and equipment to participate in research and development efforts. The sixth interested participant company will contribute $25,000 a year but not have an active role.
All but the interested participant company had to submit proposals detailing how they furthered the institute’s mission to move technologies out of the lab and onto the battlefield. “The Army is really interested in getting real equipment out of it,” Downing said. “Taking it into the real world is where industry fits in.”
At a National Nanotechnology Initiative conference in April, Thomas said many of the technologies targeted by the ISN could find a niche in the civilian market. ISN is developing strong, lightweight multifunctional materials, ballistic protection gear, systems for detecting and protecting soldiers against chemical and biological weapons and triage mechanisms.
“Anything we can do to protect soldiers, we can do to protect police and firemen,” Thomas said.
The ISN is continuing to seek industrial partners, Downing said, and expects to solicit proposals once or twice a year.