The Northern Nevada business climate has not only changed in the last 20 years; it’s transformed into an entirely new economy—for the better, in many ways (minus the ongoing challenges of rising housing costs and homelessness).
This new economy includes the full-cycle lithium battery loop: Nevada is the only place in the U.S. where every step of a lithium battery’s lifecycle takes place—mining, manufacturing, distribution, dead cell collection and recycling. We have been a logistics hub for decades, and now we host numerous large U.S. product-distribution centers, including those of Amazon, Tire Rack and Walmart. Nevada is a pioneer in autonomous vehicle testing and operations, due to the Federal Aviation Administration designation years ago as an official drone development location. There are other vertical markets with startups in many diverse sectors now, too.
Amid these developments, the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), headquartered in Sparks, has steadily climbed as a market leader in the aerospace and defense industries, and is now the largest privately held defense contractor in the world. It recently announced that the “Dream Chaser,” the latest shuttle for NASA, is close to reality after many years of development. In April, the company also won the contract for the next-generation “Doomsday” plane for the Department of Defense. It’s due to replace the current Boeing plane that is designed to stay aloft through a nuclear disaster.
University of Nevada, Reno, graduates Eren and Fatih Ozmen bought the small company back in 1994. As they built it into a powerhouse, they also gave back to the community and university. They started the Ozmen Institute for Global Studies, the Ozmen Foundation to support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, and the Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship, which is part of the UNR College of Business.
Full disclosure: I have been the entrepreneur-in-residence for UNR and the Ozmen Center for more than a decade now. We help students, faculty and alumni build startups. The effects these programs have had on the community are innumerable. The program is responsible for many student successes, as well as entrepreneurs staying in town after graduating to launch their startups.
The latest innovation and vision from the Ozmens is the new Aerospace and Defense Academy. It is another game-changer for this region. According to new executive director Solange Massa, the academy is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. and will create opportunities in tech education, government contracting and defense entrepreneurship. The Ozmens plan to continue to increase their support of STEM by focusing on high school aerospace education to nurture the next generation of rocket scientists through a three-year pilot program that will include a mix of in-person and virtual classes.
The academy will also help defense and aerospace startups gain valuable insights into navigating the government-procurement sector. This will create inroads and relationships that support the future of space and defense technologies.
The academy plans to help small startups and women-owned businesses gain the scale necessary to compete and thrive in the worldwide space and defense movements. If we consider the effects that the Ozmen programs have already had on the industry, the world and Northern Nevada, there is little doubt that the program will continue in the Ozmens’ great tradition. The academy should fundamentally change local STEM programs, local university research, engineering and business in Nevada.
This may well be the next new economy in Nevada. With this new investment, and the new Las Vegas Spaceport, there is a great chance that this will play into the next decade of diversification in Nevada business and the Nevada economy. There are few careers in the world that are more lucrative and high-paying than those in aerospace and defense.
We already have some aerospace and defense contractors here in the area. Massa, the academy’s new director, has her own startup, Ecoatoms, which develops biological solutions for the aerospace industry. In my May column, I spoke of the Polish companies I’m working with to bring to Nevada—and two of those companies are sponsored by the Polish Space Agency (POLSA). One of them, Extremo Technologies, is putting a high-growth algae on the International Space Station, for natural interior air-purification testing, with an eye toward lunar colonization. The other Polish company is launching mini-drones into space for cost-effective, rapid deployment of communication systems.
I’m also in chats with two companies from Lithuania that are part of that nation’s brand-new aerospace and defense industry. These companies serve as examples of the cutting-edge tech already committed to Northern Nevada, along with the local drone and aerospace companies in development here. According to Reuters, the global defense industry grew by more than 7% in 2023, the highest rate since 2009, with NATO countries representing 55% of the growth. Could this be the next tech loop for our part of the world—a full-cycle defense and space program from concept to deployment? It’s definitely possible; the building of this new economy here has already begun, in many ways.
Ozmen Center executive director Mehmet Tosun, my friend and boss, mentioned that the Ozmens have discussed how difficult it is to navigate government rules and regulations, and to gain the qualifications necessary to get into government procurement and contracting. So one of the programs will create credentialed technical certifications in defense and aerospace. This will also help SNC train and hire locally through UNR, creating a friendlier environment for aero-defense tech development, as well as a pipeline for other defense contractors.
It sounds a lot like aerospace ecosystem development is coming to Nevada in the next few years in a formidable way. This is great for our economy. It’s great for our schools, kids and universities. With many business-support organizations in the area, and with the university and the business climate expanding, the new Aerospace and Defense Academy is another flag flying high for the Reno/Tahoe area.