Richardson, Texas, Feb. 6, 2013—Innovative companies have a unique opportunity to establish a relationship with a telecom giant during the recently announced Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC) TechQuest. MTBC member, Ericsson, is working with the MTBC to give small innovative companies the opportunity to present to top Ericsson executives with proposals around cloud computing and communications. Applications are currently being accepted and due by March 15 at www.metroplextbc.org/techquest.

TechQuest is a forum that matches innovation seekers with innovation providers. It gives ‘innovation providers’ the opportunity to present their technology-based ideas and business plans to key decision makers at a major high-tech company – the ‘innovation seeker,’ in this case is telecom powerhouse Ericsson. Previous TechQuests from the MTBC have involved MTBC members Texas Instruments, Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, Raytheon, Samsung and Tektronix.

“What the MTBC has done with its TechQuest program is allow seeker companies to add an additional open innovation avenue to their current R&D programs,” said Chris Croupe, MTBC innovation committee tri-chair and past innovation seeker from Alcatel-Lucent. “It’s effective in attracting new innovative solutions and the cost is minimal.”

“Ericsson has already made a significant investment in the outcome of their TechQuest and hopes to emerge with strategic partnerships with innovators whose technology is a fit for Ericsson’s strategic plans in cloud computing and communications.”

The cloud-based areas that Ericsson has identified as being of interest include: migration, mobile management, business support systems (BSS), content delivery network (CDN), managed server provider (MSP) and unified communications. Industry-specific areas include: health care, education, utilities and transportation. Specific examples include: management of application programming interfaces (APIs), Big Data real-time access solutions and analytics, machine-to-machine (M2M) services, and SCADA to IP ruggedized for wireless broadband connections.

The MTBC is opening the TechQuest process by asking for applications from innovation providers. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 15. A volunteer committee of MTBC members with broad and deep experience in technology will examine applications and pick top choices to go through an interview process with executives from Ericsson.

Ericsson then determines how they want to move forward with any of the innovation providers. The connections made may result in technology licensing, funding for future research, a customer/supplier relationship or some other type of strategic partnership.

Innovation providers are not required to be MTBC members, nor do they need to have a location in DFW. However, those selected for follow up interviews must travel to North Texas for an in-person interview.

For more information about the TechQuest process and to download an application, visit the MTBC website at www.metroplextbc.org/techquest.

About Metroplex Technology Business Council
The Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC) is the largest technology trade association in Texas, representing a quarter million employees through its 300 member companies. The MTBC strengthens the North Texas’ technology community and its reputation by acting as the innovation hub for entrepreneurs, universities and corporations. The MTBC continues to prove that 'Technology lives here' by growing future tech leaders with its talent and workforce development initiative, advocating technology's advancement in governmental arenas, and connecting people and inspiring ideas through its programs and special interest groups. More information about MTBC and its annual Tech Titans awards gala can be found online by visiting www.metroplextbc.org. 

Further information (external website)