Military Seeks New NC Technologies at Symposium

Entrepreneurs, researchers, and the military are gathering in Chapel Hill today to discuss high-tech solutions to military problems.  The Federal Advanced Technologies Symposium is being hosted at UNC by Senator Richard Burr and the North Carolina Military Business Center, which works to secure military contracts in the state. The Center's Executive Director Scott Dorney says innovations useful to the armed forces could range from the latest in prosthetics, to lighter-weight fuel cells, to robots.

Scott Dorney: They use robots for detecting improvised explosive devices on roadways in Iraq and Afghanistan, so any developments in robotics are very important. Advanced materials - again, anything that can make equipment, vehicles lighter, more survivable and more lethal. And that's really what it's about.

Dorney says he hopes the symposium leads to new federal contracts in the state, and new ideas for the military.