RFT Manufacturing Innovation Institute –

A New Industry/Government Partnership to Meet 

Future Defense and Commercial Needs

November 15, 2017

Stephen Luckowski

US Army ARDEC, Government Program Manager, AFFOA

Stephen.l.Luckowski.civ@mail.mil, 973-724-3373
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AFFOA Mission
AFFOA At-A-Glance

The Fabric Revolution: From Fiber Devices to Fabric Systems

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AFFOA Leadership: 

Industry, Academia, and Government

All Stakeholders Council (ASC)

+ + Steve 

Luckowski

Govt PM

Phil 

Singerman

Assoc Director, 

NIST

Tracy Frost

Director, DoD 

MfgUSA Institutes

+

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COO

Tairan Wang

CEO

Yoel Fink

CMO

Eric Spackey

Director, EWD.

Noah Drori

Defense Technology Lead

Sasha Stolyarov (LL)

Director, Admin. & Membership

Tina Gilman

General Counsel

Tena Zara

Senior Product Engineer 

Mihai Ibanescu

Senior Admin. Asst.

Lorena Fiori

CPO

Tosha Hays

Senior Product Engineer 

Jason Cox

CTO

Aimee Rose

Senior Process Engineer 

Chia-Chun Chung

AFFOA Team: Institute HQ
AFFOA Membership

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Institute Membership, cont.

AFFOA developed a profile of a “model member” for each member category which is being used in recruitment efforts. 

Low “barrier to entry” model

Basic membership principles:

Simple 1-2 page agreement 

“No more tiers”
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Technical and Product 

Strategy
Technical Strategy

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Universities

• Underserved, unencumbered 

IP marketed to manufacturers

• IP is bundled to make license 

valuable

• Follow-on roadmap funding

• Receive revenues minus fee

AFFOA

• Eliminates barrier to 

innovation and 

commercialization

• Establish platform 

technologies for the 

country

• Made in America clause

• Harnessing University R&D 

for the country

Industry

• One-stop shopping for IP

• Simple fee and royalty 

structure 

• High value products 

• Made in America

Product

Process

Product

Technical Strategy Development, cont.:

1-Stop Licensing Initiative
Overview

• AFFOA can grant royalty bearing non-exclusive licenses to relevant RFT IP in aggregate 

to companies that agree to manufacture in the US

• The UNIVERSITY maintains the right to directly license on a non-exclusive basis the 

covered IP, subject to the requirement to manufacture in the US only

• AFFOA can bundle different pieces of IP from different universities for One Stop 

Licensing

• AFFOA offers simple terms to companies ($10k annual fee per patent, approximate1% 

royalty, split among patent suite owners) for non exclusive license

• UNIVERSITY receives licensing revenues minus 15% admin fee

• UNIVERSITY can withdraw IP that is not currently under license or AFFOA investment

Product

Process

Product

Technical Strategy Development, cont.:

IP Agreement Structure
Technical Execution

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3 Main Means of Execution 
Technical Execution: First Project Call

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Technical Execution: First Project Call

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Technical Execution: First Project Call

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Technical Execution: First Project Call

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Technical Execution: First Project Call

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Product Overview

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Product Overview

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Product Strategy

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MIT Freshman Orientation: 

Class of 2021 with LOOKS backpacks
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Fabric Discovery Centers 

(FDCs)
End-to-End Prototyping Facilities

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Each FDC has its own distinct capability • Massachusetts: HQ, Defense, and Joint use (AFFOA, NextFlex)

• Pennsylvania – 3D knitting

• North Carolina – Non-wovens

• Georgia -- ??

• The FDCs’ provide startup incubation space and other support to accelerate the formation of 

advanced functional fabric start-up companies 

• The network of FDCs is expected to promote product innovation for the textile industry and thus, 

transition institute-developed technologies into commercial products 23
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Operational Overview:

Anticipated FDC Locations
Defense Fabric Discovery Center (FDC)

Based at MIT Lincoln Laboratory (LL), the Defense FDC leverages a joint team, core competencies and existing 

facilities at LL, Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) and AFFOA
“Blue Teaming” Approach to 

Defense FDC Roadmap Projects

Army Stakeholders:

• Combat Vehicle Protection

• Aviation Protection and Mobility

• Soldier survivability / protection

• Soldier load reduction

• Soldier situational awareness improvement

Navy Stakeholders:

• Low cost undersea acoustic sensor arrays

• Undersea optical comms

• Fiber antenna concept

Intelligence Community/Other Stakeholders:

• Secure communication

• Other

1 Understand Key Capability Gaps Develop System Concepts

Leveraging Advanced Fibers

2 Innovate on Enabling Fiber 

Technology

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• Develop Technology

• Prototype System Concept

Viable?

No

Yes

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Perform System analysis

Identification and communications 

fabrics

Photonic fibers

Projects driven by system concepts enabled by advanced functional fiber technology

Viable?

No

Yes

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DASD, Emerging 

Capabilities & 

Prototyping

• Other GAs covering 

broad set of DoD 

problem space

Raise awareness to new 

capabilities
Defense FDC Benefits to DoD

• Joint team of Lincoln Laboratory, NSRDEC and AFFOA provides near-term capability and 

long-term mechanism for stakeholder input

• Provide immediate capability to perform work on classified DoD products

– Reduce time and program risk compared to obtaining facility clearance for non-Federal facilities

– Establish more refined boundaries in classification guide to help facilitate commercial 

manufacturing, while protecting critical data

• Transition and share unclassified manufacturing processes to other FDC’s and industry 

partners through a central data repository

• MA provides $6.25M of equipment capability as cost share to the Federal commitment of 

$3M (for projects) to the FDC (2:1 cost share)

• Provides linkage of other Lincoln Laboratory Federal customers to fiber and textile 

technologies 
Education and Workforce 

Development Process

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Summary

• Participation in institute allows for project planning and leveraging 

Federal Investment of $75M 

• AFFOA has secured nearly 3:1 cost share from industry, universities, and 

state/Federal government 

• Opportunity to partner with non-traditional industry members and 

access supply chain

• Opportunity to develop new domestic sources and capabilities

• Access to new technology, rapid prototyping network (FIN), and start-up 

assistance (FDCs)

• Provide shared assets and knowledge to help companies access cutting-edge 

capabilities and equipment

• Affords opportunities beyond typical government contracts

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