This paper chronicles the events of the ACSYNT software development project, the formation of the ACSYNT Institute, and the commercialization effort leading to a corporate entity, Phoenix Integration, Inc. Through the cooperation of government, industrial and academic concerns, a unique, focused research and development effort was organized for the development of software tools to aid in the conceptual design of aircraft. The goals of this jointly-sponsored effort were to provide a standard, consistent, generic environment in which aircraft conceptual modeling and analysis could take place. The ACSYNT Institute provided a climate that was conducive to common R&D goals, formation of non-proprietary solutions and joint research efforts between government and industry. The resulting R&D direction, associated technology, and energized market provided the right ingredients for a commercialization effort. Phoenix Integration, Inc. is the result of a seven year, $3M effort to provide unique software technology to a focused design engineering market.
