Lumineye named xTechSearch 2.0 Winner
Photograph Details: Winners of the xTechSearch 2.0 competition at the 2019 AUSA Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Washington Convention Center on Oct. 16, 2019.
Photo by: Pete Marovich for AUSA
Boise, Idaho-based Lumineye, which was created out of NSIN’s H4D course at Boise State University, captured the second round of the Army’s xTechSearch competition.
The company won $250,000 in the second round of the Army xTechSearch competition on Oct.16. It will use the competition prize money to continue work on its Lux product, a compact, lightweight, through-wall sensor designed for firefighters, law enforcement, and search and rescue teams.
The announcement of the start-up’s top recognition came during the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.
Lumineye credits its start to the H4D course and the xTechSearch prize money it has received. The National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) program Hacking for Defense (H4D), is a semester-long course offered at top-tier research universities that provides U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) leaders with opportunities to collaborate with talented student teams in the development of innovative solutions to its most pressing national security problems. The Army xTechSearch contest is designed to find small businesses and start-ups to work on problems the Army is having difficulty connecting with or was unaware existed.
Bruce Jette, United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, encouraged Lumineye and all companies participating in the competition to keep their momentum and energy.
The Expeditionary Technology Search, or xTechSearch, calls on companies to demonstrate technologies that can help the Army meet its modernization challenges. The goal is to seek nontraditional innovators and small businesses who can work with the Army, including through cooperative research opportunities with Army scientists, as it modernizes the force.
Jette pointed to the H4D program as the launch pad for Lumineye.
“The winner selected was a participant in our inaugural xTechSearch 1.0 just over a year ago and was [a] start-up that emerged from students participating in the Hacking 4 Defense course,” he said. “They had pitched a concept and a basic minimum viable product, but were not selected to be here at Innovators’ Corner last year.
“This start-up took the feedback from the judges at their pitch day and did not quit. They entered xTechSearch 2.0 having done extensive customer discovery and incorporated feedback from all of their research leading to the very impressive demonstration and transition plan,” said Jette.
The Lumineye H4D project was sponsored by US Special Operations Command’s Joint Acquisition Task Force.
The H4D course is offered at 30 leading universities across the U.S.
Learn more about Hacking for Defense.