Sikorsky — a Lockheed Martin company — has confirmed Continuous Composites as the winner of its ninth Entrepreneurial
Challenge.

Led by Sikorsky Innovations, the challenge is designed to “accelerate innovators and disruptive technology concepts with applications to the aerospace industry”.

Chris Van Buiten, vice-president of Sikorsky Innovations, said: “This year we received the most first-round applications ever.

“We are thrilled to continue to work with a variety of entrepreneurs and small businesses to explore new technology and concepts.”

Continuous Composites is advancing its Continuous Fiber 3-D Printing (CF3D) technology in the defence and aerospace sectors for the next generation of composites.

Tyler Alvardo, the company’s CEO, said: “This recognition is a great follow-on to our recently announced joint development agreement with Arkema Group, as we build the base for future revenue streams and advance our strategic initiatives.

"Those initiatives include applying CF3D to print ‘carbon-bonded-carbon’ composites used in hypersonic applications, where both extremely high heat and strength are required.

“We are continuing to establish strategic partnerships, as we move towards the anticipated commercialisation of our technology in 2021.”

Sikorsky Innovations also awarded special recognition awards to Vita Inclinata and Ubisense.

Vita Inclinata is developing an autonomous, unmanned suspended Load Stability System for integration into rotary-wing suspended-load operations, while Ubisense has a SmartSpace platform that brings “visibility of the physical world to planning management and control systems”.

Sikorsky is introducing a new set of focus areas comprising: low-noise aircraft enabling technologies; technologies that enhance human-machine teaming; advanced validation and verification for non-deterministic software; and wireless sensor network cyber resilience solutions.

These focus areas are part of the newly formed Entrepreneurial Network (www.lockheedmartin.com/enetwork).