IQM Research Institute

IQM Research Institute, a non-profit research organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, develops artificial intelligence, cognitive architectures, and autonomous systems technologies for defense applications, operating as a prime contractor on federal contracts and grants (67% of recent awards) and as a subcontractor on defense technology programs. The organization holds a prime seat on the Missile Defense Agency's $151 billion Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ contract awarded December 29, 2025, and recently secured a $6.12 million Other Transaction Agreement with the Defense Department's Tank-Automotive Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Command for the Connected Vehicle Cybersecurity Center at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, expiring August 1, 2027.

IQM Research Institute's recent award activity concentrates on Department of Defense research and development across defense agencies. The Office of Naval Research leads customer engagement by award count (3 awards), followed by the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory (2 awards), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (2 awards, $570 thousand combined potential value), the Missile Defense Agency (2 awards, $500 combined potential value), and TACOM (1 award, $6.1 million). The TACOM OTA anchors 91% of the organization's combined potential value across all awards; the remaining agency relationships reflect smaller research grants and developmental contracts. Activity has accelerated sharply — two awards in 2021, one in 2022, then five awards in 2025 and one in early 2026 — though the combined potential value across all twelve awards in the source data is $6.7 million (with $11.5 million obligated to date). One award (the TACOM OTA with $6.1 million potential value) faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and will require recompete.

IQM Research Institute's grant footprint anchors on Office of Naval Research Basic and Applied Scientific Research awards (CFDA 12.300). A $600 thousand Project Grant effective August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2028 funds research into "Integration of Cognitive Architecture, LLMs, and Metareasoning for Comprehensive Troubleshooting," advancing artificial intelligence and autonomous systems applied to naval and Marine Corps operations. A prior ONR Project Grant awarded April 1, 2022 on "Dual Knowledge Representations for Adaptive & Efficient Autonomous Agents" completed August 31, 2025, demonstrating continuity in the organization's ONR partnership around cognitive architectures and neural generative language models.

As a subcontractor, IQM Research Institute delivers engineering services to Assured Information Security, Inc. on the ARCHANGEL-AZRAEL cyber prototype development program (two awards, October 2024 and October 2025) and to Raytheon Company on the Advanced Technology Support Program IV for microelectronic capability solutions (April 2025). The organization's SHIELD IDIQ seats it as a potential prime on multi-domain defense research and development across detection, tracking, interception, and neutralization of air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threats, with initial delivery order performance in Huntsville, Alabama. IQM TECH Inc., a named for-profit subsidiary self-certified as a Small Disadvantaged Business, is listed in the corporate structure but does not appear in the award details under review.