mORE vlpi: businessweek.com
It's a union of patriotism and technology as outfits across America put their expertise to work in the war against terror
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Vital Living Products Inc. is turning its over-the-counter test kit for bacteria into one that will identify anthrax. TJ Technologies is looking at ways to adapt its tiny ultracapacitors and fuel cells for military use as highly sensitive, low-energy sensors. Advancia Corp. is talking with the Federal Aviation Administration about helping the agency do background checks for pilots' licenses. These are a few of the small businesses who, in the wake of September 11, are looking at how their products can be transformed into weapons against terrorism.
In the war against terror, where the front lines are mailrooms, water supplies, and office buildings -- nothing less than the very infrastructure of daily life -- it's the small commercial company rather than the big defense contractor that may supply the most effective weapons.
"What is being hit is commercial targets. They are not robust or hardened in the military sense, and we aren't going to make them secure with tanks," says Mark Clevey, director of Michigan's Small Business Association entrepreneurial development center. "There's a need for new water-testing techniques, air-filtering techniques, Internet security systems, through-the-wall sensing systems," he says. "If a system is vulnerable to some sort of terrorist attack, it needs to be fixed or changed or it will be broken in to."
THREAT ASSESSMENT. Vulnerability was on the mind of Don Podrebarac, CEO of Vital Living Products in Matthews, N.C., as he watched the World Trade Center towers collapse on television. The next day, he called his company's microbiologist to discuss chemical warfare. When they studied what the Internet had to say about bioterrorism, "it became obvious that the most readily available product for bioterrorism was anthrax," Podrebarac said. Because anthrax is a bacteria, it was relatively easy for Vital Living to adapt its existing tests to detect anthrax, whether in water, the air, or on a surface.
The company expects to begin shipping the kits, which have a shelf life of two years and will sell for about $20, to retail stores in late November. Podrebarac expects to at least double the company's 15-person staff to produce at least 20,000 kits a day.
Is the company cashing in on panic? "It's not about panic," says Podrebarac. "It's about being prepared." An anthrax-test kit in the desk drawer is a terrorism deterrent, he says, because people won't be as helpless -- or as scared -- of the unknown. "Terrorists have challenged businesses to use their resources and ingenuity...so civilized people can fight back."
RESEARCH DOLLARS. Entrepreneurs aiming to adapt their products to protect against terrorism are motivated more by patriotism than profits, believes Brent Ericson, who oversees the industrial and environmental division of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group of biotech businesses that is asking its members to suggest research initiatives the government might want to fund.
Because lack of money may be keeping a good anti-terrorism idea or product from being developed and deployed, Clevey of Michigan's Small Business Assn. has organized a one-day workshop that will deal with how to apply for part of the $60 billion to $100 billion the government gives out each year for research and development. The DefendTech conference, set for Nov. 4 in Lansing, Mich., is open to small or midsize from any state, he sys, noting that a portion of the $75 registration fee will be donated to the Red Cross.
TJ Technologies of Ann Arbor, Mich., recently received a $2M award from the U.S. Department of Commerce for its work on hybrid power packs -- tiny fuel cells and ultracapacitors -- that power portable electronics. TJ had foreseen the commercial applications -- laptops, handhelds, cell phones -- and is now working with defense contractor Lochkeed Martin to adapt it for military use, says Mike Wixom, vice-president of research and development. He declined to be specific about the military uses, except to say the focus is on "remote sensing" applications in operations overseas.
PILOT PROGRAM. The Advancia Corp. of Oklahoma City, a data-technology consultant, has already done a lot of work with the FAA, the Immigration & Naturalization Service, and the Defense Dept. "We're pretty deep into those three agencies," says CEO and President Randy Alvarado. "Now, how can we take what we know and help them?"
Advancia, which is talking with the FAA about making pilot-license background checks more effective and efficient, also could help the INS keep better track of visas, Alvarado said. Figuring out a better data-tracking system wouldn't be the tricky part. "We can do it," he says, "but the question is: How fast can the government move? The new Office of Homeland Defense has to get organizations that historically don't share data to talk to one another and agree on what do to."
Government decisions are also the key to how quickly ZymeTX Inc. can adapt its work to fight terrorism. Using a technology called chemiluminescence, the company is developing an ultrasensitive imaging device that would light up like a firefly at the presence of flu virus.
ALTERED FOCUS. The portable, highly sensitive test, which gives results in 20 minutes, could be adapted to detect anthrax or smallpox, says Craig Shimasaki, vice-president of research and development and a co-inventor of the technology. If government funding comes through, ZymeTX could submit its product for FDA testing in about a year, Shimasaki said.
"If September 11 hadn't happened, I wouldn't be thinking along these lines," says Shimasaki, whose work had focused on the flu virus, whose symptoms mimic those of an anthrax infection.
Also, because of September 11, someone might now be relieved to find out they have the flu. |
