BRIDG hopes $30 million from feds spurs support

KISSIMMEE — Money from Uncle Sam could help a Kissimmee research facility make its case to state lawmakers that it deserves support in its efforts to be a leading player in an emerging industry.

BRIDG last month learned it’s in line to receive $30 million in federal funding from the $684 billion defense budget to establish a cybersecurity center that would research ways to protect hightech sensors. Such sensors are expected to play a greater role in how everything from cars to dishwashers work. BRIDG’s goal is to figure out ways to prevent them from being hacked.

“We are looking at a whole new era of potential threats to cybersecurity infrastructure,” BRIDG CEO Chester Kennedy said. “That’s going to put a new burden on individuals to come up with more-robust cybersecurity solutions.”

But as officials celebrate the funding from the federal budget, they also say BRIDG’s capabilities have been slowed by the state Legislature. The 109,000-square-foot facility has been trying to secure grants to buy high-tech measurement tools and other equipment that would give it a stronger case to attract future research projects.

“We are certainly hoping that the federal interest will help reinforce the importance of what we are doing with the state Legislature, and that our requests will carry more weight,” Kennedy said.

As it stands now, every time the facility produces a silicon wafer — that is, the building block of integrated circuits — it must be taken to Miami, which is the closest location for a test site of the hightech components. “Whenever you have a wafer coming out of that press, you have to stop to immediately measure it,” he said. “If we are a few millionths of an inch off, we can’t use it.”

During last year’s legislative session, BRIDG officials had hoped to receive $10 million. Instead, lawmakers approved $500,000 for the facility.

Republican state Rep. Mike La Rosa has tried to secure more money for the facility with little success so far. However, BRIDG officials say there will be a renewed push during the next legislative session, which starts in March.

La Rosa could not be reached for comment.

Ever since BRIDG debuted in 2017, it has established partnerships with industry leaders, such as Siemens and St. Petersburgbased Aurora Semiconductors.

In May, the facility produced its first silicon wafer, which is discshaped and about twice the size of a record album and half of its thickness. These wafers have been called “critically important” to the development of new technologies by tech experts.

A 26,500-square-foot clean room is one of the facility’s morecrucial areas.

It is there that large rows of machines are fed by a number of gas and water lines, with the amount put through each line playing a role in the finished product that comes out of the device.

BRIDG employs about 40 people.