How small business can speed technology development.

Small Businesses are recognized frequently for their important role in economic growth. In April, for example, President Bush noted that "[small businesses] have played a vital role in helping our economy add more than 5.1 million new jobs since August 2003 and have helped reduce America's unemployment rate to 4.7 percent."

In addition, small businesses help U.S. military services by introducing them to innovative new technologies, often at lower costs than those charged by larger corporations. The services encourage such efforts through Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs and similar vehicles, which seek to stimulate technological innovation and increase competition, productivity and economic growth.

One participant in the Navy SBIR program is Sage Technologies Ltd., of Willow Grove, Pa. Sage was founded by Navy engineers after the nearby Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Warminster was closed in the early nineties. The company now designs and develops the avionics suite for upgrades to Navy helicopters, and specializes in products that can be used in the field.

Sage, for example, has generated several infrared (IR) imaging products used by Army, Navy and Marine combat forces to see through darkness, smoke and other obscurants. The company now is marketing those devices to the first-responder community.

Sage also is developing an entirely new set of night-vision equipment based on the short wave IR spectrum. These devices will provide night vision for operators of moving vehicles. In addition, the company is working to produce a new family of surveillance products that could change the way surveillance and night operations are conducted.

Because of their limited resources, small businesses--more than larger corporations--must temper the desire to push technology with the realism to build what the market will buy, and the knowledge to develop it at the lowest reasonable cost.

Seeing one of Sage's products, a government reviewer commented: "We spent $100 million with one of the largest contractors and couldn't do this!" Jules Olita, president of Sage Technologies, responded, "If you had contracted with us for $100 million, we couldn't do it either."

Her point was that small businesses, by their nature, must use resources efficiently. They have the substantial advantage of being relatively unburdened by large overhead infrastructures that are risk-adverse and impede innovation. Small businesses often will go directly to a solution that uses the most state-of-the-art technology, and if properly managed, can provide significant advantages to the government and prime contractors in performance, schedule, and cost. Small businesses provide innovation, creativity and responsiveness; the Navy SBIR program provides the capital to put these attributes to work. The use of small businesses presents a win/win situation.

The government should continue to emphasize the use of small businesses and encourage prime contractors to utilize the outstanding resources they offer. We all benefit when small businesses play a role in protecting our war fighters and securing our homeland.

Chandra Burnside is manager of government policy and director of NDIA's Small Business Division. Ron Perlman is vice chair of the division. For more information on the activities of that organization, please contact her at [e-mail].