Partnership with Griffiss Institute will promote tech transfer and grow the region’s aerospace innovation economy
MOJAVE, CALIF. (Aug. 9, 2024) – B3K Prosperity today announced a partnership with the Griffiss Institute to establish an Innovation Hub in East Kern, focused on promoting tech transfer and commercialization of innovations coming out of the region’s defense and civil research installations. The partnership is funded through a $2 million federal appropriation, included in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with support from former Congressman Kevin McCarthy and approved in the 2024 defense appropriations bill.
“Since identifying aerospace as one of our region’s most promising opportunity industries, one of B3K’s top priorities has been to increase the local economic impact of our region’s federal R&D assets,” said Justin Salters, B3K’s interim Executive Director. “Launching our Aerospace Innovation Hub is a milestone that will help us access the untapped potential for tech transfer in East Kern and the Antelope Valley, growing our aerospace and defense innovation economy and creating Quality Jobs for workers from all backgrounds.”
B3K will launch its Innovation Hub in partnership with the Griffiss Institute, the premier STEM talent and technology accelerator for the U.S. Department of Defense. At the nexus of academia, industry, and government, the Griffiss Institute provides programs and services to ensure its partners have an environment enabling the development of the next generation STEM talent and defense technologies that will strengthen U.S. national security and create economic impact.
The Griffiss Institute manages the Innovare Advancement Center, which serves as a collaborative hub for innovation and basic research. This center brings together a diverse array of partners from academia, government, and industry, both nationally and internationally, to advance defense technology and disruptive innovation. The Innovare Advancement Center provides a space where these entities can collaborate on projects, share resources, and drive forward technological advancements.
Through its Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI), the Griffiss Insitute facilitates technology transfer, innovation, and collaboration between AFRL/RI and institutions of higher education, industry, and other external partners to foster the successful commercialization of defense technologies. The B3K Aerospace Innovation Hub will be enabled through the Griffiss Institute’s PIA, with efforts already underway to evaluate pathways for B3K to pursue its own PIA with one or more of the region’s federal R&D assets.
“We have experienced first-hand the positive economic impact created when a region unlocks the economic potential of the R&D taking place at our local defense installations,” said Matthew Mroz, Executive Vice President for Strategic Programs at the Griffiss Institute. “Our team at the Griffiss Institute could not be more excited to partner with B3K to launch an Innovation Hub in East Kern and tap into the incredible innovation already happening in the region.”
Home to Mojave Air and Space Port, Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which house locations of the Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, East Kern and the Antelope Valley contain some of the world’s leading public and private aerospace and defense innovation assets. B3K’s 2020 Market Assessment found that, despite these sophisticated R&D assets, Kern County significantly underperforms on key measures of tech transfer and commercialization, both in absolute terms and compared to federal R&D peer regions. B3K’s Aerospace Innovation Hub plays a pivotal role in the organization’s Aerospace Cluster Strategy, increasing the region’s competitiveness and catalyzing additional investments that create Quality Jobs for local residents.
B3K and the Griffiss Institute will use funds for activities and programs that promote tech transfer, such as organizing Hack-a-Thons, sponsoring accelerator programs, scouting new technology, supporting internships and fellowships, and strengthening collaborative relationships among the region’s defense, industry, education and workforce development stakeholders. B3K plans on opening a physical location in East Kern to serve as a one-stop “storefront” where entrepreneurs, inventors and students can access technology and find resources to support commercialization of federal R&D.
“This is just the beginning,” said Salters. “We look forward to working with our partners at the local, regional, state and federal levels to continue to advance an agenda that takes our aerospace innovation economy to new heights and delivers on the sustainable, inclusive growth we need to change the economic trajectory of our region.”
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CONTACT: Justin Salters, jsalters@b3kprosperity.org, Call/Text: 661-706-6427
ABOUT B3K
A Better Bakersfield and Boundless Kern (B3K) is the leading, region-wide inclusive economic development organization for the Bakersfield-Kern region. Our mission is to bring our region together to imagine, engineer, and build the next era of success, where all people prosper and businesses thrive. We’re committed to growing the number of Quality Jobs in our region by investing in traded sectors and improving our regional competitiveness. Learn more at b3kprosperity.org.
About Griffiss Institute:
The Griffiss Institute cultivates talent and technology that tackles the world’s biggest challenges. It does so alongside the United States Department of Defense’s Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) and an international network of academic, government, and industry partners. Founded in 2002 in the Mohawk Valley region of Upstate New York, Griffiss Institute has origins as an incubator of ideas. With technology transfer at its core, it forges connections and pathways that enable real-life solutions to make their way from the lab bench to commercial uses. Griffiss Institute continues to elevate and develop the next generation of STEM students, professionals, and technologies that enhance our national security. Learn more at griffissinstitute.org.
About the Innovare Advancement Center:
The Innovare Advancement Center is a world-class research and collaboration destination with resources rivaling top-tier laboratories. The Center is the focal point of a growing Innovare family that enables discoveries in artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, quantum, and unmanned aerial systems – interconnected physically and to a vast network of knowledge and expertise. Home to 40,000 square feet of high-tech and high-speed communications-enabled working spaces, the Innovare Advancement Center also boasts an auditorium with a capacity for over 150 people and an access point to the NY UAS Test Site – a 50-mile drone corridor for advanced unmanned aircraft operations. Learn more at innovare.org.