Startup Talk: Longtime director retiring from small business assistance center

Editor’s note: Each Thursday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Startup Talk,” a round-up of startup, technology and entrepreneurial news.

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LONGTIME DIRECTOR RETIRING FROM SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE CENTER
Janet Roderick, state director of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, is retiring after 22 years at the helm of the business assistance group housed on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus. Her last day on the job is March 31.

Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration through a partnership with the UALR College of Business and other institutions of higher education, the ASBTDC assists all types of small businesses by providing consulting and market research services at no charge plus affordable training.

The center has provided specialty consulting services to tech-based ventures since 2004 and added “Technology” to its name in 2008 to reflect its technology expertise and national accreditation. Under Roderick’s leadership, the center also instituted market and economic intelligence data, consumer psycho-demographic information and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping.

LITTLE ROCK STOREFRONT GETS FAA EXEMPTION TO FLY DRONES FOR BUSINESS USE
Local drone company ArkQUA said Wednesday has received an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for commercial use, which the federal agency is granting exemptions on a case-by-case basis for commercial drone operations. ArkUAV joins only a handful of companies in Arkansas to have received this exemption, and is now looking to take its cutting-edge technology to businesses and industries around the state, company officials said.

ArkUAV open the state’s first retail drone location in downtown Little Rock in early December. At the time, company owners said they hoped to gain a foothold in the state’s agriculture, utility and oil and gas industries. To learn more about the Arkansas drone company, click here.

FIRST 3D-PRINTED COMPONENT FLIES ON U.S. NAVY’S TRIDENT II D5 MISSILE
The U.S. Navy’s Fleet Ballistic Missile program flew into the future this week with its first 3-D-printed missile component. A part called a connector backshell made its debut as part of the Navy’s recent successful test flights March 14 to 16 of three Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic missiles built by Lockheed Martin.

By using entirely digital processes, Lockheed Martin engineers designed and fabricated the new component in half the time of traditional methods. The connector backshell, which protects cable connectors in the missile, is made from an aluminum alloy and measures about an inch across.

The 3-D-printed component for the D5 missile is an example of the improved products and processes enabled by Lockheed Martin’s Digital Tapestry, a set of advanced manufacturing tools that connect a product’s digital life from concept to production to sustainment. Lockheed Martin also has flown additively manufactured parts on planetary probes, satellites and spacecraft for human use.