68 



Sutement of Roger G. Littk 



President 



Spire Corporation 



before the 

 United States Houfc of Representatives 



Committee on SmaO Bosiaesi 



Subcommittee on Government Programs 



April 6, 1995 



Mr Chairman, memben of the Committee, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Roger Little The 

 statements I wish to make before tiie Coramince are as President of Spire Corporation, a high 

 technology business I founded in 1969. 



The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program has been instnmiental in Spire's growth 

 Spire has participated in the SBIR program since its inception. When the program first began we 

 were a S6M, 120 person company Over the dozen years since then, SBIR fonding has contnbuted 

 to developmcm of our underlying technology base as well as specific coimncrcial products and 

 services and helped us grow to our present size of approximately $18M in revenue and ISO people. 



Spire has commercialized a number of optoelectronic components and biomatehals processing 

 services supported by SBIR. I will comment briefly on two examples One of Spire's principal 

 business areas is the sale of photovoltaic manuActuring equipment and turn-key production lines. 

 This equipment is the result of commercializing research and development on terrestrial solar cells 

 and modules funded mostly by the Department of Energy (DOE) from the late 1970's into the early 

 1980*8. At the very beginning of the SBIR program, DOE supported Spire work on Advanced Cell 

 Designs for Higb-E£5ciency Flat-Plate Applications. This work investigated the use of a number of 

 different types of substrate materials in combination with various solar cdl processes to achieve 

 cheaper, more efficient cells manufactured in large quantities The SBIR results provided important 

 support for the equipment and process technology that make up Spire's low cost solar cell 

 manufacturing lines. Today, Spire is the world's largest producer of photovoltaic manufacturing 

 equipment for terrestrial applications and has supplied equipmcm to 104 customers in 33 coumries 

 all over the world. 



Another example of commcraal activity resulting from SBIR is in the biomedical device area. In the 

 mid-1980's. Spire was funded imder SBIR to apply processes originally developed at Oak Ridge 

 National Laboratory to Ti-alloy orthopaedic devices to reduce wear. Spire's activities consisted of 

 applying high cunem ion beams to artifidai hips and knees. Over the years Spire has expanded this 

 business, inchiding adaptation of the process to other significant orthopaedic materials such as Co-Cr 

 alloys, and currently is the largest provider of such services (Spire's lONGUARD* processes) in the 

 U.S. 



The recent addition of the Small business Technology TRansfer (Si IK) program is a positive step 

 toward transferring technology from federally funded research institutions to small businesses and 



