3rd Dimension Technologies expects 2015 to be a breakthrough year
By Tom Ballard, Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurial Initiatives, Pershing Yoakley & Associates, P.C.
You never take anything for granted, but the team at Knoxville-based 3rd Dimension Technologies sees 2015 as a have the potential to be a significant breakthrough year.
The nearly 12-year old, technology-based enterprise is headquartered in the Fairview Technology Center where the team is focused on successfully completing work on one Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant and putting the finishing touches on a second one due in early April.
“We’re doing well,” said David Page, the company’s Chief Software Architect.
As reported in previous teknovation.biz posts, 3rd Dimension is focused on three-dimensional holography technology. The company’s current work involves SBIR’s from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
“If all goes well, we could have our first product ready by the end of the year,” Page said. It would be based on work the company is undertaking under a Phase II SBIR for AFRL to develop a game-based trainer for an advanced tactical fighter.
As 3rd Dimension completes work on the Air Force project, it is also finalizing its team for submitting the application for a Phase II SBIR to continue its project for NIH.
Page describes this work as building a virtual anatomy table to enhance the education of medical students through the use of holography, rather than actual bodies, in the teaching experience. This device is appropriately referred to as the “Holographic Virtual Anatomy Table.”
A key goal of SBIR’s is to accelerate the commercialization of technologies, and Page says successfully winning an NIH Phase II would lead to a second product for 3rd Dimension.
New York-based BioDigital has been a partner in the NIH Phase I work, incorporating its human anatomy software with 3rd Dimension’s holographic expertise to produce the prototype.
Page says BioDigital will be a partner on the Phase II application, and he hopes to also include several researchers from Vanderbilt University.
