A soldier carries a small briefcase containing devices that you might find in a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog.
But this combination of technology — a satellite radio, satellite phone, laptop computer and geo-spacial mapping system — is perfect for warfare.
It is rugged, compact, lightweight and the exact kind of thing the Defense and Security Technology Accelerator is looking to create.
Starting in October, Fayetteville will be hatching technology companies and entrepreneurial ideas geared toward defense and security.
The Defense and Security Technology Accelerator will have two uses appealing to two sectors (many incubators foster one kind of business for one type of sector of industry).
The incubator teams entrepreneurs and technology companies with commercial and government industries to find products and applications useful in warfare.
If the Army needs a small, lightweight camera that can withstand the heat and sand of the desert, an incubator company that specializes in electronics could devise one.
Scott Perry is the general manager.
"The military identifies problems and the companies try to solve them," Perry said. "A lot of it is modifying commercial products and tailoring them to military usage."
In the next few months, Perry and the Partnership for Defense Innovation — a nonprofit group created by the Cumberland County Business Council — are getting the incubator ready for its opening in October. The location has yet to be announced.
The Partnership for Defense Innovation was established as a host organization to receive and distribute $2 million in state funding awarded by the N.C. General Assembly last year.
Perry, who retired as a sergeant major from the Army, was hired in June and is meeting with defense contractors and academics to let them know the incubator is on its way. His next step will be recruiting companies to apply to the incubator.
The former Special Forces soldier is reserved and calculated in detailing the specifics of whom he is recruiting, but he feels a connection between knowing what the military needs and finding companies that can provide it.
"You have to understand the needs of the military and what their missions are," Perry said. "I have been one of those guys who had to take his gloves off and use a flashlight to use a piece of equipment. That’s what soldiers don’t want. I can personally relate to that."
Search under way
The search for companies that can provide the ultra-lightweight, rugged and user-friendly products started three months ago, prior to Perry’s arrival.
Perry said 100 companies in North Carolina have been visited and about 30 expressed interest.
There will be space for 12 to 15 startup companies at the Defense and Security Technology Accelerator. To be accepted, a company must already have defense or security technology in either a prototype or working stage.
The incubator will help the companies by providing administrative assistance, access to a network of resources and professional expertise, seed money and office space.
Companies will have two years to develop in the incubator before leaving the nest.
This would allow a constant cycle of new and emerging technology companies to set up shop in Fayetteville.
More than 84 percent of companies that graduate from an incubator locate within five miles of the site, according to the incubator’s business plan.
An additional 10 "affiliate" companies will also be accepted to the incubator. These companies will not be located in the facility but will have all the benefits the in-house companies receive.
The goal, Perry said, is to make these companies successful and establish an active community of technology companies, commercial corporations and government entities working together from Fayetteville.
There are two reasons for starting the incubator, said Bill Martin, president of the Cumberland County Business Council: to bring new jobs and economic development to Fayetteville, and to make the military stronger and more efficient.
"This will result in technology-related jobs, which is what we want here," Martin said.
Without a major university or corporate headquarters in Fayetteville, the military is the best way to draw new technology companies here, he said.
A feasibility study done two years ago identified the need for a military business incubator and pegged Fayetteville as a prime location because of its proximity to the military and Research Triangle Park and its central location in the state.
A group of state and local lawmakers visited a military business incubator in Annapolis, Md., to see how such a facility would be run and what effect it would have on the area.
The Chesapeake Innovation Center is conceptually similar to the Defense and Security Technology Accelerator, except that it develops firms that specialize in homeland security technologies.
Perry said the Chesapeake Innovation Center has spun-off 25 companies since it opened in 2003. The incubator is larger than the one planned here — it can accommodate 20 to 25 startup companies — but the potential effect on the Fayetteville business community is great, according to those who visited the Maryland facility.
State Rep. Margaret Dickson, a Fayetteville Democrat who went to Annapolis, said the incubator will be an asset for keeping skilled and ex-military people in the community to start their own businesses.
"We expect these to be high paying and high-skilled jobs," Dickson said.
More money, please
Even though the incubator has received $2 million in funding, its business plan requires $5 million in public money over the first three years.
To continue operations, the incubator will have to solicit contributions from the community, secure grants and private funding and establish partnerships with the military, universities, community college system and corporations.
Other incubators, such as the Chesapeake Innovation Center, take a percentage of the incubator companies’ profits to sustain themselves.
Perry said that may be an option in the future, but the Defense and Security Technology Center will not start off by taking anything but rent money from the tenants.
For now, he must concentrate on building the foundation of the incubator, hiring a five-person staff and finding those techie hatchlings.
