NSIN and AFFOA to host a virtual pitch for nine advanced fabric and fiber startups submitting proposals for approximately $450,000 in contract awards.

NSIN, in partnership with Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), will give nine advanced textile startups an opportunity to pitch their fiber and fabric technology to the Department of Defense (DoD) on Thursday, July 29. Additionally, startups will discuss the challenges of rebuilding and innovating the domestic textile industry with NSIN and AFFOA leaders.

The nine finalist teams are competing for $450,000 in contract awards to advance a dual-use technology as part of AFFOA’s Project Call 2.0. In addition to the pitch event, finalists have submitted proposals for full consideration. Final winners will be selected according to their ability to integrate their innovation into the DoD textile supply chain.

About the Event

  • Who: Joey Clark, NSIN Starts program manager; Matt Merighi, NSIN director of operations; Alexander (Sasha) Stolyarov, CEO, AFFOA; View the full list here.

  • What: Startups will pitch their textile technologies that can be integrated into ‘dual-purpose’ DoD and commercial use cases. Entrepreneurs will hear from DoD and industry leaders in the morning about opportunities and strategies to utilize domestic textile manufacturing. The event will conclude in the afternoon with startups pitching their fiber and fabric technologies and with a winner(s) selected at the end of the event. The full agenda can be viewed here.

  • When: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. EST on Thursday, July 29, 2021

  • Where: Virtual event via Hopin. Registration Link.

About NSIN

NSIN is changing the way the Department of Defense solves problems. NSIN is building a diverse network from academia, entrepreneurial innovators and the defense community to leverage our nation’s greatest asset- people. NSIN is headquartered in Arlington, Va. and has 11 regional offices in commercial innovation hubs throughout the U.S.

About AFFOA

AFFOA’s mission is to rekindle the domestic textiles industry by leading a nationwide enterprise for advanced fiber & fabric technology development and manufacturing, enabling revolutionary system capabilities for national security and commercial markets. To catalyze the development of advanced functional fibers and strengthen the domestic textile industrial base, AFFOA has assembled a Fabric Innovation Network (FIN) made up of 130+ member organizations including startups, universities, manufacturers, commercial industry and defense partners to bring advanced fiber technologies to market.

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