Welcome to the Office of Technology Innovation for the Industrial Base
- The Office of Technology Innovation for the Industrial Base builds manufacturing capabilities and supports manufacturing readiness through cross-Service strategic planning, purposeful investments, and partnerships with the private sector.
- The coordinated efforts help create and maintain domestic, secure, flexible manufacturing capabilities for new and existing platforms to rapidly meet National Security and commercial production demands: lessen the reliance on other countries; drive down acquisition and sustainment costs, shorten repair times, secure supply chains, build a trained workforce, and ensure warfighter safety.
- TIIB promotes lethality, readiness and agility by coordinating a spectrum of development to enable the adoption and utilization of advanced manufacturing technologies and processes across the organic, defense and commercial industrial bases. Program outcomes allow rapid ramp up of production for critical parts and platforms encompassing essential DoW focus areas including advanced materials, additive manufacturing, bioindustrial manufacturing, and AI.
- TIIB’s portfolio is organized to act as catalyst and facilitator for the movement of new and emerging technologies from proof of concept to initial low-rate production and adoption. Working with Services and across DoW’s S&T enterprise, TIIB components assess gaps in technology readiness, accelerate manufacturing processes and prototyping, and facilitate standardization and transition
- Manufacturing is a key enabler for advanced technology. We can move from lab to fab by de-risking the scalability challenges associated with the transition of an idea to proof of concept to sustainable production.
- TIIB’s concerted effort informs S&T decision making through assessment of gaps and opportunities within the industrial base to promote and adopt new and emerging technologies; promotes affordable access to next-generation capabilities and workforce through topical investments and public-private partnerships to accelerate and de-risk advanced technologies; facilitates opportunities for technology transitions and commercialization; works with the sustainment community to understand and translate needs for parts and repair, aligning investments to improve DoW acquisition and sustainment outcomes.
- These functions are accomplished by five TIIB components:
- Technology Industrial Base Assessments (TIBA)
- Manufacturing Technology Program (ManTech)
- Technology Transfer, Transition and Commercial Partnerships (T3CP)
- Advanced Manufacturing Components and Prototypes Program (AMCAP)
- Sustainment Technologies Office (STO).
- Additionally, TIIB drives advances in two DoW Critical Technology Areas that underpin manufacturing: Biotechnology and Advanced Materials – with dedicated initiatives.
- The benefits of a manufacturing network like this within the DoW are to reduce cost and expedite technology to our Armed Forces.
- The network provides alternative and expanded funding mechanisms for critical technologies and manufacturing processes.
The network ensures an alignment of Defense Industrial Base investments with acquisition needs and requirements for our defense services.
TIIB Offices in Action: Commercialization Pilot Program
- Background: DoW labs have a vast repository of Government-developed technology available as patents that are “sitting on the shelf.” These technologies are unable to go from “lab to fab” due to three main factors:
- Unidentified or unknown commercial/military market potential
- Unidentified or unknown manufacturing processes able to operate at scale
- Qualification and certification of manufacturing processes to make a reliable and cost-competitive product
- Problem: DoW technology transfer activities have not been strongly linked to warfighter impact
- Objective: Demonstrate the value of investing in lab-developed technologies to support commercialization, transition, and adoption by the warfighter
- Approach to address commercialization barriers:
- Step 1 – Review catalogue using TechLink processes; assess impact and analyze intellectual property (IP) portfolio based upon market potential; leverage MilTech and Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MIIs) to identify potential commercial partners and military customers
- Step 2 – Leverage MIIs and ecosystems to identify processes and commercial partners to scale
- Step 3 – Make strategic use of Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADAs) and Test Services Agreement (TSAs) to access lab capabilities for product qualification and certification
- Outcomes:
- A commercialization framework that promotes the acceleration of lab-developed technologies into the marketplace.
- Commercialization of technologies and commercial suppliers, which are critical for the DoW because it cannot "own" the supply chain for everything it needs to buy.
- Development of a process for commercialization, including scale-up through the Mlls and testing at DoW labs.
- Transition of the advanced material for use by the program of record and its availability in the commercial marketplace.
- ROI: Quantifying the value of lab-developed IP as an asset for DOW
T3CP Commercialization Pilot: Advanced Materials
