Bridger Photonics, Inc. (BPI) has rapidly grown to become a world leader in three closely-related areas of advanced laser-based technologies: precision distance measurement, remote gas sensing, and 3D imaging. The September 2011 issue of Inc. magazine named them as “America’s Fastest-Growing Engineering Company,” ranked #1 in the engineering sector among the Inc. 500 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in the US. The company was founded in late 2006 by three Ph.D. graduates from Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman, when they submitted three SBIR/STTR proposals. As has been the case for decades in Montana, one was forced to leave the state for a job, but Pete Roos and Randy Reibel persevered until two STTR proposals were funded in mid-2007, launching company operations. Co-located next to MSU’s off-campus Spectrum Lab for optimal collaboration, the company has grown to 17 employees because of the founders’ keen ability to learn best business practices from others, their desire to build close collaborations with capable organizations, their intense focus on practical applications and commercial production, and because of the highly advanced laser technologies co-developed with MSU Spectrum Lab: 1) advanced laser radar (LADAR) having no moving parts, which measures distances with unprecedented accuracy, can electronically scan a wide geographic area far faster than mechanically-scanned systems for precise 3D mapping, yet is small enough to be carried on a UAV; 2) techniques for accurately measuring concentrations of gases or chemicals in air at long distances, using lasers with precise frequency control at multiple wavelengths – currently for detecting hidden drug labs, and measuring CO2 concentrations for carbon sequestration or spotting distant pollution sources.

BPI epitomizes all the finest attributes that make SBIR and STTR so important for our nation’s technological competitiveness and future economic growth:

• breakthrough technologies being rapidly commercialized, with tremendous beneficial impacts for both the military and civilian society;
• technologies originating in joint university research through the strongest possible collaborations; technologies enabled by prior SBIR/STTR-supported R&D at other collaborating companies – in this case, lasers with extraordinarily precise frequency control, developed over two decades through collaborative research between MSU and Scientific Materials (now part of FLIR Systems) ;
• company founders who have continued to grow far beyond their already impressive technology backgrounds, to build a fast-growth company through ** careful attention to selection, retention and motivation of excellent employees; ** continuous business learning from other industry executives, reaching out for collaborative and mentoring relationships; ** continuing development of strong collaborations with university scientists, federal labs, service/support organizations, and other companies, both in the local industry cluster, and afar; ** a laser-like focus on the goal of commercialization, which has already led to production and sales of multiple advanced technology products, after just three years of business operations, and
• an important high-technology firm whose creation was enabled by SBIR/STTR funding, in a state where start-up financing from VC and angel investors is almost non-existent, and promising science and engineering graduates have typically left the state for jobs.