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Leadership Connect, Inc., a data-driven productivity software company, was awarded an agreement with AFWERX & SpaceWERX to help improve outcomes for the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR).

“We are excited to work with AFWERX & SpaceWERX supporting their teams who are putting emerging technology like AI, cloud, and plasma in the hands of warfighters through America’s seed fund.  As the Air Force seeks to help more non-traditional and small business suppliers navigate the valley of death, we are providing AFWERX and SpaceWERX with the only service in the world that connects every technology investment to every decision and policymaker in the DoD,” said Michael Crosby, CEO of Leadership Connect.

AFWERX & SpaceWERX staff will now be equipped with a 360-degree view of contractor capabilities and non-civilian mission needs to quickly and simply match the two together.  This will speed adoption of successful SBIR-driven technology capabilities for the DoD.

In conjunction with its work with AFWERX & SpaceWERX, Leadership Connect performed an in-depth analysis of the entire SBIR program focusing on emerging technology awards.  We found that the program is 16% more effective than the average venture capital outcome.  The full report can be found here.


Leadership Connect is a data-driven, productivity software company focused on the public sector.  It empowers 40,000 users to make better procurement and policy decisions faster and with fewer resources.

AFWERX is a Technology Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the innovation arm of the Department Air Force, accelerates agile and affordable capability transitions by teaming innovative technology developers with Airman and Guardian talent. In AFWERX, AFVentures expands the Defense Industrial base for advanced technologies.

SpaceWERX inspires and empowers collaboration with innovators to accelerate capabilities and shape our future in space. Major technology trends that affect our national security continue to emerge from private industry, academia, and the government. The U.S. Space Force’s competitive advantage is its ability to identify, validate, acquire, and integrate those technologies quickly. Accordingly, SpaceWERX seeks to form collaborative partnerships between the military’s operational experts and the top problem solvers in industry, academia, and the government.

Annie Farrell

Digital Content Writer