Applied Research Institute Inc.

Applied Research Institute Inc., doing business as Indiana Innovation Institute, is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in Odon, Indiana, that delivers advanced prototype development, artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions, and specialized R&D services to the Department of Defense as a prime contractor (97% of recent awards) competing predominantly under Other Transaction Agreements outside the FAR.

The organization's customer concentration is entirely defense-focused. The Office of the Secretary of Defense leads the portfolio with 8 awards carrying $78.8 million in combined potential value, followed by the Defense Information Systems Agency with 6 awards worth $31.6 million combined. The Department of Defense Washington Headquarters Service, the Air Force Air Education and Training Command, and the Naval Air Systems Command round out active relationships. These top five customers account for 83% of recent awards and 98% of combined potential value; the Office of the Secretary of Defense and DISA anchor $110.4 million of the $127.6 million total portfolio. The recent award spread also includes the Small Business Administration's Office of Investment and Innovation (a $2.3 million competitively awarded definitive contract through September 2029 to establish and operate a regional innovation cluster supporting small businesses in advanced computing, biotechnologies, clean energy, and cybersecurity) and four Economic Development Administration project grants totaling approximately $3.3 million for biomanufacturing workforce training, facility design, and startup academy development in Indiana's biotech ecosystem.

On the OTA front, Indiana Innovation Institute holds or has held a multi-billion-dollar Other Transaction IDV (W52P1J2194100) with DISA supporting the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center's prototype mission. Representative prime OTA work includes the $23.4 million JAIC 501(C) Parallel Path Prototype Environment awarded by DISA in December 2021, the $17.7 million TSM Experimentation and Scaling effort (Trandewind Solutions Phase V) from the Office of the Secretary of Defense running through May 2027, the $11.9 million CATE-T sub-agreement from the Office of the Secretary of Defense through October 2024, multiple Steel Vulture Prototype initiatives totaling $7.2 million across Woodbridge, Cambridge, and Clifton Park locations (July 2023–July 2024), the $16.3 million Office of Open Learning OTA from the Office of the Secretary of Defense through September 2025, and the $7.8 million AI Literacy – IN3 initiative to support SPACECOM data mining operations (ultimate completion June 2026). Most recently, the Office of the Secretary of Defense awarded a $9.3 million ARI Production OT agreement in March 2026 running through March 2027. Additional work includes the $3.4 million Air Force Platform One Phase II OTA (Air Education and Training Command, completion May 2026), a $2.4 million AESOP Prototype sub-agreement with Naval Air Systems Command, a $2.0 million AI-powered Contract Writing System OTA through DISA, and smaller prototype efforts with the Office of Naval Research and Space and Missile Systems Center.

Activity has been episodic—seven awards in 2022, five in 2023, seven in 2024, then two in 2025 and one in 2026—with three awards totaling $27 million in combined potential value reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore subject to recompete. Indiana Innovation Institute operates almost entirely as a prime contractor and does not rely on subcontractors; across its SCI-reportable activity, average sub-hours share runs at 0 percent. The organization subcontracts minimally; one recent sub-award appears on an April 2025 CACI Federal effort providing advanced product innovation and delivery services for NAVALX. The corporate structure includes a named subsidiary, Midwest Hydrogen Corridor Coalition, Inc., a nonprofit organization. The Service Contract Inventory dataset carries six records for Indiana Innovation Institute covering FY2022–FY2024 but shows $0 invoiced revenue and 0.0 FTEs, indicating that SCI-reportable service contract activity (above the $150,000 threshold) is either absent or classified; the organization's federal work is predominantly OTA-structured prototype and R&D delivery outside standard service-contract reporting channels.