The Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation has awarded $210,000 to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s office of Workforce and Economic Development to help fund research in virtual reality and artificial intelligence software for Future SQC Software LLC, which plans to commercialize the software for use in manufacturing.
The money for the Mixed-Reality Interface Research Project (MRIRP) comes through GBIC’s Launch BTX Grant Program. The project involves software that uses georeferencing points to display data on a phone or virtual reality headset to “speed up and secure processes in manufacturing,” according to the company.
Georeferencing refers to the process of adding geographic information to a digital image — an aerial map for instance— so that GIS (Global Information System) or mapping software “knows” the real-world geographical location of the image.
Future SQC Software is a subsidiary of OneTap, an information services and consulting firm based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, that began collaborating with UTRGV in 2020 as part of the university’s Global Soft Landing Program, which helps foreign companies navigate the U.S. market. The company said entering the U.S. market, by building strong ties with U.S. business partners, is a top priority and that it intends to relocate to Brownsville this year.
GBIC said the UTRGV-SQC Future partnership will create 20 direct jobs and up to 50 indirect jobs locally. As part of the research project, UTRGV plans to provide training for 10 university interns and offer up to 30 students a chance to contribute to the research via in-class assignments.
The $210,000 grant will be used to buy software, virtual reality hardware and possibly $45,000 worth of additive (3D printing) manufacturing equipment. The software under development targets the food and beverage and automotive industries but could be expanded for use in other industries, including healthcare, supply chain and logistics, and aerospace, according to the company.
GBIC board Chairman and Brownsville City Commissioner John Cowen Jr. said the “innovative research” GBIC is helping fund will further the manufacturing industry’s goal of optimizing processes to reduce cost while at the same time increasing production.
“Future SQC presented the (MRIRP) as a collaborative study with the goal of creating economic development for Brownsville and the South Texas region,” he said.
Ron Garza, UTRGV associate vice president for Workforce and Economic Development, said the Launch BTX Grant Program “is inclined to innovation and collaboration.
“It helps recruit business and create jobs,” he said. “For the UTRGV side, it creates that experiential learning process for our students, which will help make them better employees once they enter the workforce.”
GBIC Interim Executive Director and CEO Constanza Miner said the GBIC board opted to fund the project “because it falls in line with our mission of establishing innovation in the workplace, economic development and employment opportunities for residents in our community.”
“At GBIC we practice under the notion that no project is too small or big to support, and we see the potential for exceptional growth through this particular project,” she said.
