Annapolis-based Chesapeake Innovation Center lands Boeing as a partner

BYLINE: Joe Bacchus

Aerospace and defense industry giant Boeing Co has chosen the nation's first homeland security-focused incubator to scour fledgling companies for innovative technologies. Warren Kennedy, spokesman for Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems, said the company will view the Annapolis-based Chesapeake Innovation Center as a sort of "technology scout" that would do a "quicker, better" job of tracking down cutting-edge technologies than the much-larger Boeing. Roger London, the incubator's director of technology scouting, said the partnership is also a great deal for the incubator's tenants - as well as other small and fledgling technology companies across the state - because it will allow them to access the technologies and contracting dollars of the aerospace giant.

He said such access is incredibly difficult without connections to larger, established entities - which the incubator now has in Chicago-based Boeing. "The CIC can become a gateway into larger government programs, through Boeing, that they might not have had a chance at before," London said. The partnership is through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Mentor-Protege program, which aligns industry giants with small groups that might prove to be valuable technological resources, he said. The CIC was created in 2003 by the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. to find and nurture businesses to create new jobs in the county. The incubator was the first in the country to focus on the growing homeland security field. The incubator currently has 15 tenants. London said larger companies frequently rely on smaller companies to hunt down the next technological innovations, in part to curb research and development costs but also because large companies often must focus on the big picture. That is one of the reasons for the Homeland Security mentor program. "It's hard for them to reach into every nook and cranny," London said. Aaron J. Greenfield, president and CEO of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp., said he expects the Boeing partnership to be a great benefit for the area's companies. He added that the organization has already had a seven-hour meeting to make sure businesses get the most they can out of the deal. "It does us no good if only half of the equation is getting what it's due," Greenfield said. "We have a job to do for our members. " Kennedy said Boeing has not yet identified exactly what types of technology it is interested in. He said the company will try to narrow the field over the next 12 months. On Oct. 16, the incubator and Boeing will make a joint presentation at Boston University discussing the new partnership and the way young companies can be sure to play a part in big federal deals. "When something is actually hatched, how does a small company get business?" London said. "That's the focus of the Boeing partnership, and that's something we know about. "