A Tucson company that specializes in metallurgy equipment, a local mining technology company and the UAโs technology commercialization chief were honored Wednesday at the Southern Arizona Tech + Business Expo, hosted by the Arizona Technology Council.
Pace Technologies, which makes wafering saws, polishers and other equipment for analysis of metals, was named Manufacturer of the Year for firms in business more than five years.
Guardvant Inc., a maker of operator fatigue monitoring systems and collision-avoidance systems for the mining industry, was named Manufacturer of the Year for firms in business five years or less.
David Allen, a University of Arizona vice president who oversees Tech Launch Arizona, was honored as Technology Leader of the Year.
The third annual event featured speakers from local tech companies, workshops and an expo featuring about 40 exhibitors at the Hilton Tucson El Conquistador Resort in Oro Valley.
During a keynote address, Taber MacCallum, of the local space tourism company World View Enterprises, gave a presentation on the companyโs project that sent Google executive Alan Eustace in supersonic free-fall from the stratosphere in a record-breaking attempt a year ago.
The technology that has gone into developing the balloon, the spacesuit and the other systems that were used in last Octoberโs launch will be used to advance World Viewโs program to take paying tourists up in a high-altitude balloon and luxury capsule.
Advanced manufacturing methods such as 3-D printing have advanced to the point where smaller companies can tackle huge challenges โ like travel to near space, MacCallum told the expoโs roughly 200 attendees.
So-called โadditive manufacturingโ processes like 3-D printing helped engineers at World View Enterprises to rapidly try out improved designs, he said, recalling how the company would send a new part design to an additive-manufacturing firm and get the part back within two days.
The technology has allowed even small companies to take technological leaps that not long ago would require major government backing.
โSpace companies are outstripping what government is doingโ in space technology development, said MacCallum, who is World Viewโs chief technology officer. โIt used to take nation-states to do this.โ
MacCallum said World View hopes to make its first passenger flight to near-space in a balloon-lifted capsule under development by the end of 2017, adding that interest in the flights is keen despite the $75,000 cost per passenger. Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus is offering a World View flight with extras for $100,000 in its 2015 holiday catalog.
