For now, Avilution currently focuses on smaller scale experimental market aerospace manufacturers and integrators.

When asked whether he sees any prospects with regard to working with larger commercial aerospace companies, Spencer responded “One important element of our philosophy has been a “crawl, walk, run” approach to how we get our technology into the market. Aviation is, rightfully, very conservative about making changes that could impact safety.”

“As such,” he continued, “it’s important that we prove out not just the technology itself, but how we demonstrate the safety of the technology in small ways before we move on to bigger applications.”

Spencer added that the company is in the process of certifying applications on the government side and on Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) certificated civilian aircraft, including a small twin engine jet.

During Spencer’s address at the ribbon cutting event, he compared Avilution to HudsonAlpha, which brings biotechnology research together with biotech startups to advance new science and products more quickly.

When asked to clarify this statement, Spencer said that he has been very fortunate through both Digium and Avilution to find the support of the City of Huntsville and, to some degree, other companies to help him make the technology the company has created become more accessible to potential customers. He added that “Avilution’s whole goal is to help innovators more easily bring their technology to market.”

“If someone has an idea for almost anything in avionics – say a new sensor, or new automated flight system or a replacement for an obsolete component,” he continued, “our software and our lab here provide a way to integrate that element as part of a larger system so that the innovator can much more easily demonstrate their piece of a whole system.”

Spencer admitted that his desire to shake up the avionics industry has not been without challenges, noting that the avionics industry has “a lot of inertia that generally makes it difficult to do things that are really innovative.”

While innovation is seen as a “good thing,” he explained, innovation has to be carefully managed in aviation because anything novel will go through a higher level of scrutiny than the traditional way of doing things.

“As a result,” he said, “we have to be careful about which battles are worth fighting today,” focusing on which battles will allow them to achieve their most important goals before moving on to the next thing.

His passion for flying, above all, is Spencer’s favorite thing about running Avilution.

“I want to share that passion with others and make flying much more accessible to everyone, both from a complexity and safety perspective as well as from an economic perspective.”

He sees aviation technology as being at “an inflection point where electric aircraft, vertical takeoff aircraft, roadable aircraft (flying cars), and other really interesting variations may now be enabled by advances in sensor fusion, battery, and computing technology.”

Spencer added that he hopes to facilitate their integration in a way that makes them suitable for the unique requirements of aviation.

Spencer began Avilution with just one employee, Andrew Boos. Boos still works there as Director of Engineering and Operations and the business has grown to eight full time employees and two part time employees.

Maintaining a healthy work environment is a high priority for Spencer: “I think the most important thing is to provide an environment that gets people in the right frame of mind to accomplish what needs to be done,” he said.

“It’s important to remember that if someone is going to be focused on their work, then the rest of their life balance also needs to be in good order,” Spencer continued, adding that they provide five weeks of annual paid time off and other good benefits in order to encourage a healthy balance of work and time off so people come to work enthusiastic about the work they’re doing.

In addition to promoting a healthy work-life balance for his employees, Spencer ensures that the work is meaningful.

In response to the question of what he liked the most about working for Avilution, Boos replied “you get to work on a really complex problem set. There aren’t any shortcuts and you’re forced to perfect your engineering skills. It’s a great way to learn and grow.”

“You take it for granted,” Boos continued, “but it’s cool to experiment–it’s hard to think of it as work.”

Asked why he chose Huntsville over any other part of the country, Spencer replied “I have traveled to many parts of the country and the world. As much as I like to visit other places, Huntsville is the place I most want to live in.”

“For me,” he continued, “it has a great balance of ‘enough’ stuff to do (the orchestra, museums, traveling exhibits and shows, etc) with a practicality of life that doesn’t involve losing a significant amount of your life stuck in traffic or otherwise commuting.” He added “when I want to go visit a big city or the beach, those places are all within reach from our wonderful small town airport right here in town.”

Spencer’s advice for other future entrepreneurs in the tech industry is that it should relate to something they’re passionate about, “and do it to make the world better for your customers. The rest will come in time!”