View from Arch Street

Ten tech transitions in one single year.  In tech transfer circles, that’s nearly unheard of.

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The federal government has invested significant resources in fundamental, early-stage research in cybersecurity — especially in the computer, information science and engineering (CISE) fields.  However this research has limited impact on securing the nation’s critical rail, energy and transportation sectors if it doesn’t find it’s way into the private sector for capital investment and commercialization.  That’s why the DHS Transition to Practice Program (TTP) was established — to take existing leading-edge research & concepts from the national labs, university labs and defense institutes and transition them into the marketplace.

Arch Street has been pleased to work with IgniteU-NY who is a partner with the TTP program to bring more federally funded cybersecurity technologies into the marketplace.  The results for TTP in 2017 alone have been remarkable.  It is extremely hard to get a ahead of the curve in the cybersecurity.  Existing technologies are often “fighting the last war” unable to evolve or adapt to the ever-evolving threat landscape.  That’s why to really make progress in protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber threats, rapid movement from the laboratory to the private sector will be vital.

More info see:

Snapshot: S&T Transition to Practice Program Moved 10 Technologies to Marketplace in FY17

Software patches deal with symptoms of system insecurity without addressing underlying hardware vulnerability. Left untouched, hardware weaknesses leave systems vulnerable to follow-on software-based exploits. To counter this, DARPA’s new System Security Integrated Through Hardware and Firmware (SSITH) program challenges researchers to design security directly at the hardware architecture level.

The overall goal of the SSITH program is to develop hardware design tools to provide inherent security against hardware vulnerabilities that are exploited through software in DoD and commercial electronic systems. SSITH aims to drive research required to develop secure hardware that constrains the hardware attack surface and protects against classes of software attacks that exploit hardware vulnerabilities.

See also:

Baking Hack-Resistance Directly into Hardware                                                                System Security Integrated Through Hardware and firmware (SSITH)

Scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island and the University of Connecticut have developed a customizable nanomaterial that combines metallic strength with a foam-like ability to compress and spring back. This organic-inorganic hybrid material could pave the way to new nanoelectromechanical devices.

The nanomaterials have elastic properties of human muscle — high strength with the ability to flex and release large amounts of energy — opening up the possibility of entirely new classes of robust, flexible nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) such as biosynthetic artificial muscles.

Source: Scientists Engineer Nanoscale Pillars to Act Like Memory Foam

 

 

 

Here at Arch Street we dislike the term “Rust Belt”.

But alas, old terms die hard, just as do preconceptions of what is happening in this region spanning the Northeast and Midwest. Having been engaged in tech-based economic development in the Northeast for over 30 years, we know that this term does not adequately describe the changes occurring in places like Utica, New York or Erie, Pennsylvania.  Regardless, small cities and towns especially are under severe threat due to high legacy costs (pensions, infrastructure) and dwindling population and tax bases.  A recent study by the Manhattan Institute is stark in its assessment:

Rust Belt cities’ legacy cost burden will continue to weigh on them just as much as will their legacy of industrial decline.  Costs associated with both bonded debt and retirement-benefit liabilities will reduce scarce funds available for existing services and future improvements. It is doubtful that Rust Belt cities can grow their way out of their struggle with legacy costs.  High debt and retirement-benefit liabilities, as well as shrinking tax bases, spring from and perpetuate a lack of private investment. For these reasons, state governments will have a vital support role to play in ensuring the ability of Rust Belt cities to continue providing basic municipal services.

While growing out of the this cycle may be extremely difficult or impossible without government intervention,  at Arch Street we believe that a promising economic development strategy is to grow one’s own through fostering policies and programs that support entrepreneurs and tech startups.  That is why we are excited to work with IgniteU-NY powered by NYSTEC — a tech innovation program in New York helping promote new and exciting partnerships among industry, academia and government laboratories.

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Arch Street is pleased to be working with IgniteU-NY and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cyber Security Division (CSD) Transition to Practice Program to showcase next-generation cybersecurity technologies.  The tools are available for transition and commercialization to help protect U.S. critical infrastructure sectors such as financial services and energy.  The free showcase will take place at the New York Academy of Sciences in Lower Manhattan on October 5, 2017.  For more information and links to registration see:  Transition to Practice Technology Demo — IgniteU NY

First in a series of four next-generation geostationary satellites NOAA’s GOES-16 is just entering service but is already providing stunning, detailed imagery of weather events including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Image quality, speed and resolution are exponential improvements over previous generation NOAA weather imagery.

From NOAA’s #GOES16, a “sandwich loop” — a combination of visible and infrared imagery — of Cat. 5 #HurricaneIrma today, Sept. 6, 2017. pic.twitter.com/WJePMC0yEE

— NOAA Satellites PA (@NOAASatellitePA) September 6, 2017