Through the years, the people at the U.S. Navy lab on Point Loma have dreamed up all sorts of advanced and imaginative technologies. Their ideas include a radio antenna made from a stream of seawater, and a high-velocity spherical microbot.
Now the Navy and some private sector partners are looking for a few good entrepreneurs to take those technologies to the commercial market.
But time is of the essence. The deadline to apply for the program is April 15. Entrepreneurs will be able to make their pitches April 12 at the co-founders weekend, or April 23 for online applications.
Programs to familiarize people with the program are even sooner.
The program is part of Arizona State University’s Furnace accelerator program, which is conducting the program along with Wasabi Ventures LLC and the Navy lab, aka Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific or SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific.
Interested applicants can find qualifying technologies — including ones from the fields of wireless communications, alternative fuels and other software and hardware — online at furnaceaccelerator.com.
The partners have arranged several information sessions for the program on the following dates:
Local
• Tuesday, April 7, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center, 55th Street at Hardy Avenue at San Diego State University,
• Wednesday, April 8, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Co-Merge workspace, 330 A St., downtown, and
• Thursday, April 9, from 6:30 to 9 p.m., at Otterson Hall at the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego.
NOTE: An April 6 event at the Basement Incubator at the UC San Diego’s Mandeville Center has been canceled.
Entrepreneurs interested in attending one of the information sessions should RSVP at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/furnace-accelerator-san-diego-information-sessions-co-founders-event-tickets-16208409790
Organizers are encouraging applicants to attend the in-person, hands-on co-founders weekend event, set for 8 a.m.-5 p.m. April 11 and 12 at UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management. They will have an opportunity to pitch at the conclusion of the weekend.
A competitive selection process will require participating teams to select a technology, form a management team and submit a proposal by April 15.
Winners of the April 12 pitch competition will be announced that same day at the conclusion of the co-founders weekend. Winners of the April 23 pitch competition will be announced April 24.
Selected companies will be inducted into the six-month-long acceleration program that kicks off in the last week of April and ends with Demo Day in the fourth quarter of the year, when qualifying companies will meet with local and national investors.
EvoNexus, SDSU’s Lavin Entrepreneurship Center and Deskhub are among the organizations supporting the project.
One of the key benefits for the startups to enter into the accelerator is the opportunity to work with Wasabi Ventures. And the startup will have to license the technology or technologies from SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific.
Arizona State is running the Furnace program for the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense, Research & Engineering. ASU received a $1 million grant from the office to help accelerate commercialization of Defense Department developed technologies. SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific is one of three Defense Department labs participating.
(Editor’s Note: This story updates and corrects a previous story that contained outdated information)
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