Entrepreneurs, researchers find opportunity at Northwest Florida Pitch Day

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Published 11.10.25

Innovation has always had a home at IHMC and a partnership with Space Florida created another opportunity to showcase that.

For the second year, the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s Pensacola campus hosted The Takeoff: Northwest Florida Pitch Day with partners Space Florida, Gain Venture Capital, and DeepWork Capital.

Pitch Day connects market-ready research and startups in the region with investors, accelerating their path to commercialization and scaling groundbreaking technology. Dr. Morley Stone, IHMC’s Chief Executive Officer, said the Institute was proud to co-host Pitch Day again.

“Initiatives like The Takeoff unite innovators, investors, and business leaders to accelerate the commercialization of breakthrough technologies,” Stone says. “This year’s event highlighted IHMC’s expanding portfolio of commercialization efforts and reaffirmed Florida’s position as a national leader in technology, investment, and entrepreneurship—driving innovation that shapes the future.”

The IHMC researchers who presented were:

Senior Research Associate Daniel Duran highlighted The Modular IoT Networked Technology (MINT) Threat Detection System, which delivers scalable, multilayered defense and enhanced situational awareness through a distributed network of minimal SWaP-C Threat Detection Boxes. These versatile, low-cost units detect and analyze a wide range of threats — including perimeter intrusion and tampering, acoustic and seismic activity, and more in real time with geolocation and interfaced with decision software used by military and law enforcement communities. Each self-contained box leverages AI for instant analysis and communicates securely through long-range, encrypted meshing.

Dr. Matt Johnson presented Crucible, an immersive simulation and testing environment for exploring, validating, and refining complex human–machine interactions within virtual and mixed-reality environments. Crucible enables realistic mission scenarios, system integration, and performance measurement across physical, virtual, and cognitive dimensions. This helps accelerate the pace of discovery, testing, and deployment of advanced human–machine teaming concepts.

Research Scientist Jared Li showed Link, a multipurpose exoskeleton platform designed to reduce injury risk during dynamic, dangerous manual labor and is the latest evolution of IHMC’s exoskeleton work. Modular by design, Link features the ability to assist a single joint (hips only) and/or multiple joints (hip-knee) through custom actuator packages that can be “linked” together through instrumented carbon fiber structures. Whether reducing work-related injuries, or improving the independence of older adults, Link’s mission is to maintain mobility for all.

The private sector presenters who earned awards were:

Apellix, a Jacksonville, Fla., based company that designs, builds, and sells AI-driven commercial, industrial and military drones. Apellix featured drones that work at elevation, including power washing and spray painting drones. It is part of the company’s goals to eliminate risk to people working at heights and improving worker safety.

National Energy USA, a Pensacola-based company that works with government, commercial, and municipal clients to solve issues around waste management and power generation. National Energy delivers a waste-powered microgrid using artificial intelligence and machine-learning robots to process a variety of waste streams into clean, renewable energy for clients.

Swarm Dynamics, a Fort Walton Beach-based company that is producing modular “SwarmCenter” micro-factories that combine robotics cells, proprietary composites, and digital-thread automation to create defense manufacturing systems capable of printing airframes, hulls, munitions, toroidal propellers, and more. Swarm aims to bridge defense and commercial production to ensure scalable production for the U.S.’s autonomous industrial base.

‍Space Florida’s Chief Executive Officer Rob Long says The Takeoff shows how innovation is thriving across Florida.

“By linking entrepreneurs and investors, we’re creating new opportunities for high-tech growth and reinforcing Florida’s position as a leader in aerospace and advanced technologies,” Long says.

Kelly Reeser, managing partner at Gain Venture Capital, added: “As a firm proudly headquartered in Northwest Florida, Gain Venture Capital is deeply committed to fueling innovation right here at home. The Takeoff reflects our belief that world-class companies can — and should— grow from this region.”

IHMC is a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System where researchers pioneer science and technology aimed at leveraging and extending human capabilities. IHMC researchers and staff collaborate extensively with the government, industry and academia to help develop breakthrough technologies. IHMC research partners have included: DARPA, the National Science Foundation, NASA, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Institutes of Health, IBM, Microsoft, Honda, Boeing, Lockheed, and many others.