U.S. Navy Awards SIMBA a $1.5 Million SBIR Phase II Contract
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (January 13, 2021) The U.S. Office of Navy Research has awarded a $1.5 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract (N68335-21-C-0178) to SIMBA Chain to design and build a blockchain solution to enable demand sensing for the Defense Logistics Agency, the combat support and supply chain agency of the United States Department of Defense. Demand sensing is essential to ensuring the U.S. military has critical replacement parts for various weaponry available when required.
The award follows an SBIR Phase I project awarded in June 2020 during which SIMBA Chain worked with the U.S. Marine Corps to define a use case for a blockchain-based prototype to monitor the inventory and movement of physical assets at its Albany, Georgia Depot. This effort resulted in a proof of concept for a single source of truth ledger to support monitoring the inventory and movement of physical assets.
SIMBA Chain's new contract, the ALAMEDA Project — short for Authenticity Ledger for Auditable Military Enclaved Data Access, commenced January 6th, 2021. During this time, SIMBA Chain will further build out the prototype developed in Phase I, working in tandem with the Naval Enterprise Sustainment Technology Team (NESTT) on a use case centered on the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet supply chain. The project will be conducted at the Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, one of eight fleet readiness centers commissioned by the U.S. Navy and one of just three that perform maintenance on the F/A-18 Hornet.
Former SIMBA Chain CEO Joel Neidig, who will serve as principal investigators on the project, says the Phase II award further demonstrates the power of the collaboration with the U.S. Navy. “We are very honored to work with NESTT and the FRCSE on one of the most pressing issues facing the nation today, managing and securing military supply chains and ensuring readiness to thwart cyber and physical threats. Blockchain is well suited to solve complex supply chain pain points as it enables a decentralized mechanism for the recording of non-repudiable transactions, making data both immutable and auditable, and lastly, tamper proof once written.â€
Neidig adds, "Our goal with this pilot program is to use blockchain to dramatically improve vital supply chain interactions between FRCSE and the Defense Logistics Agency to mitigate against disruption, issues, and threats to engineering and maintenance operations. Our hope is it becomes a model across the Navy and other branches of the U.S. military."
Steve McKee, NAVSEA program manager and lead for the NESTT, says the mission of the NESTT is to align system improvements across the Navy and Marine Corps that improve readiness. “In 2020, the Department of the Navy’s SBIR Program allocated over $30 million to help the advance innovations to improve readiness. This blockchain project with SIMBA Chain exemplifies the role of technology in revitalizing not just our military facilities, but our systems as well. Pilot projects like this one with the Fleet Readiness Center in Jacksonville drive both innovation, and ultimately positive outcomes,†he said.
Joining SIMBA Chain in the ALAMEDA Project as a subcontractor is the University of Notre Dame. SIMBA Chain’s chief technology officer, Ian Taylor, a member of Notre Dame’s computing research faculty, will serve as the University’s principal investigator on the project. Taylor is widely recognized as a global thought leader in block chain.
Over the last two years, SIMBA Chain has been awarded and successfully completed multiple contracts with DARPA, the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Defense.
SIMBA Among Food Logistics' 2020 Top 100 Software and Tech Providers
SOUTH BEND, Ind., December 8, 2020 – Food Logistics, the only publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of products through the global food supply chain, has named blockchain innovator SIMBA Chain to its 2020 FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list. The annual list honors the top 100 software and technology providers that ensure a safe, efficient, and reliable global food and beverage supply chain.
SIMBA Chain was recognized for providing a blockchain-powered supply chain solution to Restaurantes Toks, a popular, 200-plus unit restaurant chain owned by Grupo Gigante in Mexico. SIMBA Chain developed a distributed application (dApp) to register and track coffee beans purchased, processed, packaged, and sold by Toks, ensuring the integrity of its coffee supply chain. View video.
Expressing gratitude for inclusion in Food Logistics’ prestigious compilation of top tech providers, SIMBA Chain Joel Neidig says the company’s blockchain platform is a highly effective, immutable solution for food and beverage producers, processors, and restaurant chains looking to solve a number of challenges in today’s digital and physical worlds. SIMBA Chain’s solutions are applicable both to the product and financial side of supply chain management.
“Smart contracts are a powerful tool for food and beverage companies that want to bring enhanced security, transparency, and traceability to their supply chains. Toks came to us with a desire to meet consumer demands for auditable quality and sustainable business processes. What we are providing them is a blockchain-enabled supply chain solution that adds value not just for consumers, but also for coffee farmers, processors, restaurants, and to the food and restaurant industries at large,” Neidig says.
Now in its 17th year, the FL100+ features software and technology companies that specialize in products designed to address the unique challenges of the food and beverage supply chain. Says Marina Mayer, editor-in-chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive, “From fleet management to warehouse management to simply just track-and-trace along the cold food chain, these software and technology providers have definitely stepped it up to ensure food and beverage products continue moving along the line without incident.”
She adds, “The pandemic threw the food industry a curveball, but many of these providers fast-tracked the development and deployment of their solutions to ensure food safety, traceability, visibility, and quality assurance. So, to these winners and others in the industry working to make a difference, thank you!”
Companies on this year’s 2020 FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list will be profiled in the November/December 2020 issue of Food Logistics, as well as online at foodlogistics.com.
ABOUT FOOD LOTISTICS
Food Logistics is published by AC Business Media, a business-to-business media company that provides targeted content and comprehensive, integrated advertising and promotion opportunities for some of the world’s most recognized B2B brands. Its diverse portfolio serves the construction, logistics, supply chain and other industries with print, digital and custom products, events and social media.
Bringing Blockchain to High School Students
SOUTH BEND, Ind., November 19, 2020 - Blockchain disrupter SIMBA Chain, aligned with a growing number of colleges and universities, has just signed an agreement with <a href="https://www.digitalleader.tech/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Digital Leader Academy</a> to bring blockchain curriculum and certifications to high school students across the United States. Digital Leader Academy's technology curriculums are designed for teachers to prepare students to make an immediate and meaningful impact in the workforce or encourage them to continue their technology education beyond high school.
David Wasson, the lead executive for SIMBA Chain's education practice, says Digital Leader Academy's focus on emerging technology education in high schools made SIMBA Chain's easy-to-use blockchain education tools a natural fit for the programs. "Blockchain technology is one of the most in-demand employment skills in the world today, which makes it a perfect subject for Digital Leader Academy to include in their high school education programs," says Wasson. "Two years ago, you needed to be a computer programmer to access blockchain, but now with SIMBA Chain's intuitive blockchain platform, students with little if any experience level can easily learn the technology."
Like SIMBA Chain, Digital Leader Academy is a startup company from the University of Notre Dame. Co-founder and CEO Ellen Joyce launched the company in 2019 with the help of the <a href="https://ideacenter.nd.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Notre Dame IDEA Center</a> after recognizing the need for all high school students to be technologically literate and have an education that provides them with employable skills. Joyce is a graduate of the <a href="https://esteem.nd.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Notre Dame ESTEEM</a> master of science program.
"Digital Leader and SIMBA will offer a novel course design where students investigate a real-world use case and blockchain solution within small workgroups, blending collaborative learning with industry-standard agile development practices. The teams will utilize SIMBA Chain's blockchain education tools to prove the viability of their solutions. This approach provides a fun learning experience that promotes critical thinking resulting in tangible skills applicable to the workforce or further education opportunities," Joyce explains. "Equally important, the lesson plans will be designed for teachers to quickly and easily deploy, minimizing their class preparation time."
Samuel Cowdery, vice president at Digital Leader Academy, says more industries in the United States from advanced manufacturing and supply chain to fintech and the defense sector are emphasizing emerging technology education to keep pace with the growing digital economy.
"In Indiana alone, 40 percent of high school graduates are moving directly to the workforce. Many jobs such as advanced manufacturing require a technology-based skill set," Cowdery says. "Digital Leader Academy seeks to prepare students for careers in these industries with an innovative curriculum that translates into employable skills."
The ultimate goal, says Wasson, is to prepare the next generation to lead the way with emerging technologies. "We want to show students what's possible with blockchain and let them reimagine the world."
SIMBA Chain’s blockchain educational module and blockchain certification for Digital Leader Academy will launch in classrooms in spring 2021.
About Digital Leader Academy
Digital Leader Academy is re-envisioning the modern high school curriculum to align with today's digital economy, offering school districts innovative, all-in-one modules in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain. The interactive classes, supported by gamification and real-life business scenarios, are designed to complement existing coursework in entrepreneurship, computer science, supply chain management, and logistics. Teacher preparation is simple, and students have the opportunity to earn valuable certifications in blockchain, G-Suite, and others that enhance both college and career preparations. <a href="https://www.digitalleader.tech/">Learn more</a>.
SIMBA Chain Awarded Contract From U.S. Navy to Deploy Secure Messaging Solutions
SOUTH BEND, Ind., February 6, 2020 - SIMBA Chain has announced it has been awarded a five-year Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract (N68335-20-F-0012) from the Naval Air Warfare Center in San Diego, Cal., to deploy a secure, blockchain-based messaging and transaction platform, a critical need of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The $9.5 million award is the first and one of the largest SBIR Phase III for blockchain.
The sole-source, non-compete SBIR Phase III contract is categorized as a Basic Ordering Agreement with a Delivery Order. SIMBA Chain has completed Phases of an earlier SBIR award, during which they created a model decentralized messaging and transaction platform mapped to DoD constructs and tested a working prototype. In Phase III, SIMBA Chain will focus on commercialization and full-scale implementation of the platform.
SIMBA Chain's cloud-based blockchain platform will meet a primary objective to rapidly provide NAVWAR, communication system hardware and software, modernization and sustainment capabilities for both land and sea assets that play a role in undersea systems communication by connecting the Blockchain Fabric from seabed to space. This RDT&E support includes a customized Distributed Ledger Technology for secure messaging, research of supply chain and logistics, evaluation of engineering, life-cycles, software and modernization, and financial transactions. Blockchain provides Navy / non-Navy federal organizations with data gathering and evaluation, technical integration engineering support, research for integration plan documentation, financial management evaluation. This project will facilitate increased velocity and breadth of communication among partners in the Naval Sea and Aviation Enterprise. Sharing technical and provenance information between stakeholders in a trusted and secure environment.
SIMBA Chain CEO Joel Neidig says his company is excited to be one of the first blockchain solutions providers to the U.S. military, beginning with deploying blockchain at full scale with the Navy. "This is a win not just for SIMBA and our partners, but also for the DoD, which has pursued with single-minded focus, a solution to conduct sensitive, mission-critical operations in a manner that is immutable and non-refutable. We plan to deliver a 'bulletproof' platform that meets all objectives."
SIMBA Chain runs on Microsoft Azure. Tom Keane, Corporate Vice President, Azure Global at Microsoft Corp. added, "We're supporting the DoD's vision and SIMBA Chain's expertise through Microsoft Azure's vast cloud infrastructure and ability to scale globally, quickly, reliably and securely. Microsoft Azure leads the industry with over 90 compliance offerings, meeting a broad set of international and industry-specific regulatory standards. Advancing the implementation of the Navy's messaging platform presents a unique opportunity to transform the industry surrounding sensitive information at a time when data security is paramount."