After seven years of connecting Pacific Northwest innovators with Navy needs, the Northwest Tech Bridge is sunsetting.

When NWTB was established in 2019, the region’s defense innovation ecosystem looked very different. There were fewer clear pathways for startups and non-traditional companies to engage with the Department of War, and fewer places for innovators, Navy teams, researchers, industry partners, and ecosystem leaders to find one another.

A lot has changed since then.

Over the past seven years, NWTB has proudly helped to bring those communities together: opening doors, making introductions, translating needs, creating opportunities to test and demonstrate emerging technologies, and helping promising companies find their way through a complex defense ecosystem.

Just as importantly, a much stronger ecosystem has grown up around that work. New organizations, partnerships, programs, and relationships now provide innovators with more ways to connect, get help, and pursue opportunities than existed when the Tech Bridge was launched.

Today, innovators have more places to turn, more ways to connect, and a stronger network to build on. We’re proud of that.

Our Impact Report captures the story of the past seven years: the companies we’ve supported, connections made, lessons learned, and progress toward bringing emerging technologies closer to the mission.