In-Q-Tel is the strategic, not-for-profit investment firm that works to identify, adapt, and deliver innovative technology solutions to support the missions of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Launched by the CIA in 1999 as a private, independent organization, IQT’s mission is to identify and partner with companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve the national security interests of the United States. Working from an evolving strategic blueprint defining the Intelligence Community’s critical technology needs, IQT engages with entrepreneurs, startups, researchers, and investors to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA and broader Intelligence Community.

The Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies is a uniquely interdisciplinary, powerful alliance of Academia, Industry and the Army. Led by UC Santa Barbara, in collaboration with MIT, Caltech, the U.S. Army and Industry partners, the ICB transforms biological inspiration into technological innovation. Current research is focused in the areas of biomolecular sensors, bio-inspired materials and energy, bio-discovery tools, bio-inspired network science, and cognitive neuroscience. The ICB served as the incubator for the formation of SpectraFluidics, Inc.

The U.S. Army, through various organizational units, funded the creation of the ICB and continues to support the Institute's activities as both a research partner and funding agency. SpectraFluidics actively collaborates with the Army Research Laboratory, the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, and the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate of the Communications and Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center.

The University of California at Santa Barbara offers more than 200 majors, degrees, and credentials through its five schools and the Graduate Division to an enrolled student body of approximately 18,000. In addition to five Nobel Prize winners, the faculty includes many elected members or fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (25), the National Academy of Sciences (27), the National Academy of Engineering (27), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (38). UC Santa Barbara owns the intellectual property associated with SpectraFluidics' key technology and has issued an exclusive license to SpectraFluidics for the unlimited use of that intellectual property.