2020 MS&T Industry Awards - Small Business finalists

This Award recognizes exemplary small businesses in the military S&T domain. Our definition of a small business is “a non-subsidiary, independent firm that employs fewer than 50 employees.”  An exemplary small business leverages human capital, innovation and agility to grow and meet client needs, while cultivating a growing technical and social influence in the community.

The three finalists are:

Cobra Simulation Ltd

Cobra Simulation provides affordable immersive visualization to the training and simulation market including civil aviation, defence (air & land) motorsport, museums, medical and arcade sectors in the UK, Europe, the US and Asia. Cobra achieves affordability by addressing the most common end user requirements and utilizing innovative design to minimize the number of optical channels. Cobra Simulation offers a range of single channel panadome displays, and design and manufacture capability to deliver solutions outside its core product range. The Cobra dome display product line utilizes first surface mirrors manufactured to their own design using a proprietary process. The mirror design optimizes the percentage of projected pixels into the field of view, while the manufacture process ensures that the mirror surface is free from anomalies the size of a pixel or larger. The innovative screen plus hood design allows the geometry of the projector and mirror and screen to be maintained without the necessity of any external structure and thus enables products to be set up quickly and easily. Cobra Simulation currently has three full time employees, working collaboratively with a number of similar sized small businesses on component manufacture that secures employment of numerous skilled manual workers. Over the last three years Cobra Simulation has more than doubled its turnover, staff has tripled, and the Scottish Government has identified Cobra Simulation as a Pivotal Enterprise with high growth potential.

Ryan Aerospace

Ryan Aerospace (RA) was founded in 2005 with one employee until around 18 months ago, growing to four (equivalent) full-time employees, several key subcontractors, and key partners around the world who assist with sales and technical support. RA specializes in the design, manufacture and through-life support of lower cost helicopter training systems. The flagship product is the HELIMOD Mark III, a low cost, modular and reconfigurable VR-based helicopter simulator that is 56 inches long and 26 inches wide and requires one PC only. The small footprint means multiple devices can be placed in classrooms taking up a fraction of the footprint of traditional simulators with dome projection screens etc. Whilst in development since 2007, it has only been in recent years that military customers have seen value in such a device. RA is focused on new ways of achieving the desired learning outcome using the most effective (and cost-effective) method(s). Some of the world’s leading military forces, including the US Army and US Navy, have RA as their training partner and since 2019 RA has grown exponentially. New orders for the HELIMOD (and other products) have increased worldwide. Manufacturing space has been increased by a factor of four. Ryan Aerospace was awarded the Small Business Award at the Queensland Premier’s Export Awards and was a finalist in the National Awards.

SIMETRI, Inc

Founded in 2009, SIMETRI, Inc. provides modeling, simulation, and training technology; medical training and training aids; medical subject matter expertise; analytical and computational chemistry; and research, engineering, technical, and logistics talent in support of operations and instruction. SIMETRI is a woman-and-minority owned small business that delivers innovative, state-of-the-art products and services that leverage creativity and technology to enhance the human experience. Since inception, this has meant researching, developing, and delivering advanced products and services, primarily in the domain of medical simulation. All of SIMETRI’s products are developed under military research and development activity to solve specific training challenges. SIMETRI has worked closely with the U.S. Army, Defense Health Agency, and others in Government to develop solutions that enhance training, performance, and ability to care for and treat warfighters in life-saving situations. SIMETRI’s revenue and market share have grown year over year. SIMETRI started with one employee, the President & CEO, Angela Alban, and now employs 28 professionals. Along with growing the team and capabilities, SIMETRI has realized a significant favorable trend in revenue. Based on the awarded backlog for 2021, the favorable trend in revenue will continue to increase. SIMETRI considers an important measure of company success is the time spent in the community, giving back, and getting to know other businesses, and people, on a personal level. In addition to the support offered as a community partner, team members are active participants in the betterment of the community and support a variety of activities and initiatives.

MS&T invites all subscribers to vote for their favorite candidate, limited to one voting session per subscriber each program year. The 2020 Winners as selected by MS&T subscribers will be announced in MS&T’s Awards Issue (3), publishing in mid-August and at   https://www.halldale.com/mst-awards-2020.

Click to vote for your choice for winner of each category  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MSTAwards2020.

Voting ends on Thursday, July 16, at 9pm UTC/5pm EDT.