CORONA, Calif. – More than 180 business owners, entrepreneurs and government representatives took part in the 8^th annual Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Corona Division’s Industry Day networking event Oct. 14 and their first-ever virtual Industry Day.

The event, hosted in partnership with the Riverside Community College District’s Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) and the City of Corona, taught local businesses how to do business with the government and ways they could harness government technology for their own commercialization and business goals.

“This event is important because it opens the doors for dialogue and takes away some of the anxiety about trying to do business with the Navy,” said Deputy Director for Small Business Programs Aubrey Lavitoria. “It also helps local industry learn how to create better proposals. In the past five years, NSWC Corona awarded $976 million government contracts and more than $35 million went to small businesses. These are some pretty lucrative opportunities that our innovative Inland Empire businesses can take advantage of.”

Mayor Jim Steiner of Corona, California, opened up the event with welcoming remarks.

“We pride ourselves in supporting our community with more than 12,000 businesses,” said Steiner. “We have a partnership with resource agencies like NSWC Corona that allows our businesses to expand their technologies and products. This is an excellent event for our businesses and manufacturing communities to connect with the Navy and bring innovative concepts to market.”

Commanding Officer Capt. Khary Hembree-Bey presented an overview of the NSWC Corona mission in support of the warfighter, followed by a presentation on the new Inland Empire Tech Bridge. The Tech Bridge was created to eliminate barriers between private industry, academia and the military.

“The Tech Bridge is a super-connector that aims to partner local industry, academia, non-profits, and private capital to work together to find faster, better solutions to warfighter challenges while stimulating the regional innovation ecosystem,” said Inland Empire Tech Bridge Director Troy Clarke.

NSWC Corona Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Manager Jennifer Stewart agreed, adding that the Navy’s technology transfer programs complement the Tech Bridge initiative and can be a huge resource for business owners and entrepreneurs.

“Tech transfer comes in and puts all the different agreements in place to help us turn them into transactions,” said Stewart. “The tech transfer world is very complimentary to the acquisition and procurement world. In partnership and through collaboration, the Navy and the Small Business community can jointly achieve better, more secure, innovative solutions for the Sailor and the Fleet.”

The Zoom event brought participants together for informative dialog on upcoming solicitations and requirements on the main floor and followed with separate breakout rooms for product and service providers to engage directly with Navy staffers and talk shop.

“I’ve been a part of many virtual events over the years – even before COVID-19 – and this by far is the one of the better ones,” said Missy Burton of The Ginisis Group, Inc. “Great work, great connections and excellent information.”

The event closed with industry networking opportunities.

To watch the event recording, visit https://www.rccdptac.com/nswc-crna-industry-day-2020. For more information on how you can do business with your Navy, contact Lavitoria at (951) 393-4810 or Aubrey.s.lavitoria@navy.mil.

NSWC Corona Division has served as the Navy's independent assessment agent since 1964. With more than 3,800 engineers, scientists and support personnel, Sailors and contractors, NSWC Corona is located in Norco, California, with detachments in Fallbrook and Seal Beach and personnel in 14 additional locations. The Naval Sea Systems Command field activity provides transparency for warfighting readiness through data analytics and assessment, engineers the fleet’s Live Virtual Constructive training environment, and assures the accuracy of measurements as the engineering advisor for the Navy and Marine Corps metrology and calibration programs.