NAMRU San Antonio and VelocityTX sign agreement to speed collaboration on military medical technologies
New framework aims to connect defense medical research with regional startups and universities
Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU) San Antonio has entered a Partnership Intermediary Agreement with VelocityTX, a San Antonio-based bioscience innovation hub, creating a formal mechanism intended to accelerate collaboration on medical technologies tied to military readiness and trauma care.
The agreement, announced Jan. 16, 2026, establishes VelocityTX as an intermediary designed to help identify and connect companies, researchers and academic institutions whose work aligns with NAMRU San Antonio’s research priorities. Under the framework, VelocityTX is positioned to help streamline how outside innovators engage with NAMRU San Antonio, including pathways for prototype evaluation and potential joint research initiatives.
What a Partnership Intermediary Agreement does
Partnership Intermediary Agreements are used by federal entities to work through an intermediary organization that can facilitate technology transfer and collaboration with non-federal partners. In practice, the structure is intended to reduce friction for smaller companies and academic groups seeking to work with government research organizations by clarifying points of access and collaboration steps.
Research priorities: trauma, casualty care and readiness
The collaboration is expected to focus on areas described as central to NAMRU San Antonio’s mission, including combat casualty care and trauma-related research. Those priority areas include craniofacial trauma and injuries associated with directed-energy exposure, as well as tools and approaches intended to enhance warfighter readiness and survivability—work that can intersect with civilian emergency medicine and trauma systems.
- Combat casualty care and survivability-focused interventions
- Craniofacial trauma research
- Injuries associated with directed-energy trauma
- Technologies aimed at readiness and performance in operational settings
Part of a growing San Antonio-based collaboration network
The NAMRU San Antonio agreement expands a broader set of VelocityTX partnerships with military medical organizations. Similar agreements have been announced in recent years involving the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research (2022) and the U.S. Air Force 59th Medical Wing (2023), followed by an agreement with the Defense Health Agency in 2025. Together, these arrangements reflect a continuing push to connect the San Antonio region’s military medical footprint with private-sector and academic innovation capacity.
The arrangement is intended to provide a clearer, faster route for innovators to engage with NAMRU San Antonio resources and evaluation capabilities while supporting education and convening activities tied to biomedical innovation.
Workshops, convenings and translation to use
Beyond research matchmaking, the agreement also anticipates NAMRU San Antonio-hosted workshops and innovation-focused gatherings meant to strengthen connections among government researchers, industry and academia. Both organizations describe the goal as improving translation—moving concepts and prototypes toward practical use—while also reinforcing San Antonio’s role in bioscience and military medical innovation.
VelocityTX, a nonprofit founded in 1984 and formerly known as the Texas Research & Technology Foundation, has been developing a bioscience innovation campus on San Antonio’s East Side. The organization’s stated mission includes building an ecosystem that supports commercialization of bioscience innovations and workforce development, alongside collaborations with military medical research partners.