Montana State opens doors to ‘OnRamp’ designed to help businesses work with U.S. military

BOZEMAN - The Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Montana, housed at Montana State University, officially opened its doors last week with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. MSU's designation as a DIU OnRamp Hub will bring the university's cutting-edge facilities and highly trained researchers together with companies to scale up technologies for use in defense projects.

Academic researchers and companies from around the region that believe their commercially successful technologies may be of interest to the Department of Defense can work with the hub to move proposals forward rapidly.

"The OnRamp understands that innovation doesn't just happen in Washington, D.C., or just in our major cities," said Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, speaking at the event. "It happens all across this country, and especially these places like Montana."

"Today is about making those connections, connecting Montana businesses and entrepreneurs with our federal partners," Gianforte said, "opening doors to new markets and making sure distance and geography is not a barrier to competing and succeeding."

MSU is home to several programs that helped pave the way to the university being selected as the home for the OnRamp Hub, including MilTech; the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center; TechLink; the Institute for National Security Research and Education; and the Applied Research Lab.

"[The OnRamp Hub] will benefit not just this campus and this community, but every corner of our state," MSU President Brock Tessman told the nearly 200 people in attendance. "It will help connect MSU with Montana's burgeoning business and tech communities and with important funding opportunities at the state and federal levels. It will help Montana businesses grow. It will open doors directly for those Montana businesses to engage with the Department of War. This is about lifting up Montana, lifting up Montana companies, helping them get access to great opportunities and to serve our country while building their businesses from any part of our great state."

Other speakers at the event included Montana's U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy and Rep. Ryan Zinke; Mike Dodd, acting deputy director of the national Defense Innovation Unit program; Cassie Muffley and Jason Combs, each from the national DIU program; and Leif Ibsen, managing director of the OnRamp Hub at MSU. Todd Daniels, executive director of the Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Montana, emceed the event.

The Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Montana is located in the EngineWorks building on MSU's Innovation Campus.