News & Press
U.S. Air Force “Pitch Day” Awards $15M to 23 Companies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 20, 2019 Release
Dayton, Ohio – JobsOhio and the Dayton Development Coalition joined the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) as it awarded $15 million in new federal contracts to medium-sized enterprises as part of the U.S. Air Force “Pitch Day” event hosted in Dayton, Ohio on November 13th and 14th, 2019. Pitches were tailored to help the military solve critical problems related to aircraft and weapons systems.
The Dayton Pitch Day was one of 12 such events taking place across the country, featuring a cohort of over 300 startup and small business preselected by the Air Force. During the event , 23 companies pitched their products and services in front of nearly 600 attendees at Carillon Park in Dayton, Ohio, all winning federal contracts as a result. JobsOhio supports economic growth in Ohio through its innovative and agile approach to drive job creation and new capital investment through business attraction, retention and expansion efforts.
“Pitch Day in Dayton offers the unique opportunity to connect private sector tech companies with one of their biggest customers that is right up the street, Wright Patterson Air Force Base,” said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and chief investment officer. “Many of these innovative companies are now looking to establish operations in Ohio for the first time, and that’s due to our access to the customer and venture capital as well as the cost of business and quality of life here.”
According to the U.S. Air Force, the AFLCMC, which is headquartered in Dayton, has an active budget that would be top ten on the Fortune 500 based on its current portfolio of $279 billion. The AFLCMC announced it would return to Dayton for another Pitch Day June 15-16 of 2020.
“We are just looking for new, innovative ideas or technology advancements that small businesses are working on that we don’t know about,” said Daniel Annett, a member of the AFLCMC team that organized the Dayton event. “We want to bring these businesses forward to enlighten us on things they are doing and see if we can take the technology and transfer it on our aircraft or weapon systems.”
Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted was on hand to share how Ohio can be a partner in their growth, and JobsOhio offered matching grants to the companies looking to invest in the state.
The Dayton Region and Ohio have a long heritage of advancing aviation innovation, from inventing the airplane, the first drone technology and the working ejection seat; to being the home of SkyVision, a mobile ground-based detect-and-avoid system that enables safe operation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) beyond visual line of sight and advanced aircraft technologies, which was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory in collaboration with the Ohio UAS Center.
The largest single-site employer in the state, Wright-Patt has a regional economic impact of $15.54 billion. With 30,000 people working on base and an additional 50,000 related jobs “outside the fence,” the Air Force is a critical driver of Ohio’s economy.
The Air Force Pitch Day events award contracts on-the-spot to companies and small businesses based on its streamlined evaluation process of written proposals and in-person presentations. Interested companies seek contracts with the Air Force as well as follow-on investments to commercializing their products and technologies for use on aircraft or weapons systems. The inaugural Pitch Day event was held in March 2019.
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About JobsOhio
JobsOhio is a private nonprofit corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion efforts. JobsOhio works with six regional partners across Ohio: Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth, One Columbus, Dayton Development Coalition, REDI Cincinnati, Regional Growth Partnership and Team NEO. Learn more at www.jobsohio.com.
For more information, contact:
Matt Englehart