The Innovation & Modernization (I&M) office within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) is inviting industry investors and business advisors to their “ Enhanced Situational Awareness” Solutions Meeting. Solutions Meetings facilitate engagement between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the innovation ecosystem to discuss promising technical solutions for operational challenges. Including investors and advisors in these discussions fosters collaboration that can accelerate the transition of emerging technologies into fieldable solutions. WHERE : The “Enhanced Situational Awareness” Solutions Meeting will take place in San Diego, California. Details will be provided to you upon receiving an invitation to attend. WHEN: October 29-30 (Anticipate 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM PST each day). WHAT: Solutions Meetings are a DoD sponsored series of technical engagements focused on discovering and showcasing promising technologies that may address key military challenges. The meeting consists of technical presentations from technology developers, primarily small businesses and non-traditional innovators, with ample opportunities for discussion. There will also be Government briefings from U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) and OUSD R&E to provide insight into operational challenges and potential pathways for collaboration. The “Enhanced Situational Awareness” Solutions Meeting will focus on innovative approaches for making sense of an increasingly complex battlespace. Technologies spotlighted during the Solutions Meeting will leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and other advanced techniques for automating object recognition and change detection within an area of interest, along with solutions that expedite the processing and dissemination of an ever-increasing amount of incoming information. The overall classification of the event is UNCLASSIFIED. WHO: Solutions Meetings are an invitation only event. Through this RFI, Innovation & Modernization will invite a limited number of industry observers to attend. Venture capitalists and small business advisors are examples of the industry observers being sought. Third‑party technology developers are not the targets of this invitation. Solutions Meetings are otherwise limited to U.S. Government personnel and their representatives, along with select technology developers showcasing their current prototype solutions (selected through a previous RFI: InnovationOutreach-20240813-W-Enhanced_Awareness). Innovation & Modernization sponsors this Solutions Meeting, which is hosted by MITRE. The “Enhanced Situational Awareness” Solutions Meeting is conducted in close coordination with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. HOW: Organizations interested in attending as industry observers must provide key information as instructed below. The number of industry observers may be limited based on venue constraints, and determined on a first-come basis amongst interested parties that meet the basic qualifications for attendance. There will be a limit of one (1) representative per industry observer organization . All requests to attend must be submitted by 5:00 PM EST on October 09, 2024, to be considered . Interested parties will need to email the required information to the Innovation & Modernization office (email:
[email protected]) if they wish to be invited to attend the “Enhanced Situational Awareness” Solutions Meeting. Please use the Subject Line “ Solutions Meeting: Industry Observer Request ". Required information to provide includes: Attendee Name (First & Last) Attendee email address and phone number Attendee Nationality Organization Name Organization Headquarters location Organization website Brief Description (<100 words) about the organization, and their role supporting small businesses and non-traditional innovators. If invited to attend the “Enhanced Situational Awareness” Solutions Meeting, individuals must comply with all Solutions Meeting rules. This includes, but is not limited to, procedures surrounding visitor access and sharing of information. Failure to comply with all rules in a timely fashion may result in an individual having their invitation rescinded. WHY: Innovation & Modernization drives efforts to compete with adversaries by developing capabilities that support the joint Warfighter. Solutions Meetings provide opportunities for the DoD to identify novel approaches for addressing operational challenges and clearly communicate with technology developers to influence prototype development. Innovation & Modernization recognizes the need to foster a more vibrant innovation ecosystem that brings in partners that can further facilitate cross-collaboration and generate additional opportunities for accelerating the development of promising prototypes into fieldable capabilities. THIS IS AN INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY. This announcement is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future.