Peter Neumann

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is the only Department of Defense organization focused exclusively on fielding and scaling commercial technology across the U.S. military. We're a fast-moving team that contracts with commercial companies to help solve critical national security problems — together. 

Join us for an exciting and eye-opening day as we introduce you to DIU's mission and vision for pushing the edge of defense possibilities.

Throughout human history, we’ve yearned to discover what lies beyond the horizon. The drive to explore our surroundings and understand the Earth is deeply ingrained in our DNA. At NGA, their mission is to answer those fundamental questions today — so they can help show the way to a better tomorrow.

Learn more about NGA’s goal to deliver world-class geospatial intelligence that provides a decisive advantage to policymakers, warfighters, intelligence professionals, and first responders in this session, presented by NGA Lead Innovation Outreach Officer, David Grover.

NGA's satellites aren't just in space. Earlier this year, NGA introduced Moonshot Labs as a software development facility where tech startups, academics, and others from industry can collaborate while using geospatial data to innovate and grow. It’s just one part of the agency’s strategy to develop critical partnerships that are only limited by imagination and a willingness to create meaningful connections.

Join Phil Chudoba, NGA’s Associate Director for Capabilities, to learn more about what’s happening with Moonshot Labs, why this space aligns with NGA's mission imperatives, and how you can get involved in the unprecedented collaborative environment to come.

"Build Back Better" is President Biden’s three-part agenda to rescue, recover, and rebuild the economy. This agenda embraces a whole of government approach and the Department of Defense will play a significant role, not only in maintaining a strong national security, but as an economic enabler. 

Join this session to learn how the Department of Defense will defend the United States guided by three priorities;  defending the nation, taking care of people and succeeding through teamwork. Creating opportunities for new-to-government companies to take advantage of its resources will play a major part in the Department’s plans and during this conversation you will receive behind-the-scenes insights from leadership within the Office of the Secretary of Defense as they discuss administration and defense priorities.

The novel ideas that drove the high-tech revolution — and that helped the United States build strength as a nation — were grounded in a close, mutually-beneficial relationship between the military and the commercial world. Today, those same partnerships are critical to protecting the intellectual property of American businesses and helping the country protect itself from foreign threats.

As the U.S. Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Contracting, Maj. Gen. Cameron Holt is helping the service reinvigorate those partnerships at the strategic level by pushing the envelope of government acquisitions and building a culture of critical thinking among the Air Force contracting community. Find out what he’s doing and why he is optimistic about the path ahead.

Businesses — both big and small — play an important role in NGA's ability to monitor and analyze global hot spots and provide timely warnings to national decision-makers by reporting what it finds. Industry partnerships are a necessity for NGA to achieve its mission.

How can you accelerate through the NGA industry pipeline? That’s one of the reasons Rick Myllenbeck, an Apple alumnus and now Industry Engagement Advisor at NGA, shows up to work every day. Rick will brief you on the need-to-knows of working with NGA and share how he’s helping the agency connect with technical solution providers from across the country using a range of creative programs.

Economic uncertainty doesn’t stop innovation, but it has made it more difficult for early-stage companies to secure the funding they need to grow. In response, some startups and entrepreneurs are turning to investments from foreign rivals, especially China, creating potential security problems for their businesses and for the United States as a whole.

In this session, DIU will examine critical points of entry for bad actors seeking to exploit your companies. You'll learn how to identify “adversarial capital” and protect your company from investors with malicious intent as well as how to stay alert and take proactive measures to secure trusted capital.

With a $3B science and technology program — and an additional $3B in externally funded research and development — the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a pretty big deal. This scientific research organization is dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of new technologies across the entire United States Air Force as well as for U.S. space and cyberspace forces.

Since 1997, AFRL has been partnering with NASA, DARPA, universities, commercial organizations, and others to perform experiments that push the boundaries of what’s possible. Hear from AFRL Commander Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle as she shares what AFRL is up to these days and how you can be part of their mission.

Need Energy? Yep, that's what we thought. Hear from DIU's newest portfolio, Advanced Energy & Materials, which is dedicated to tackling the DoD's growing energy needs. Capital Factory invites you to learn how industry is integrating advancements in energy and materials technology into DoD installations and distributed operations.

End-user feedback is an essential part of product and software development for most companies. After all, no one knows how a tool actually performs (or should perform) better than the people who use it every day. That’s why DODx organizations are finding creative ways to bring service members directly into the military R&D process — partnering men and women in uniform with commercial innovators to solve tactical-level problems as a team.

Learn how AFWERX is driving these collaborations through its grassroots innovation program, Spark, by connecting Air Force and Space Force intrapreneurs with top problem-solvers from industry, academia, and government. With a decentralized global network, Spark is growing the Air Force’s culture of innovation while turning locally generated ideas and projects into real-world applications.

The NGA Accelerator is a first-of-its-kind partnership with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and Capital Innovators designed to fund, mentor, and accelerate the growth of next-generation geospatial-intelligence technologies. The program is built for best-in-breed businesses that are developing novel dual-use technologies — products that have both commercial and military uses — and aims to increase the number of geospatial solutions available to NGA and its customers. 

Join Christine Woodard, NGA’s St. Louis Ecosystem Engagement Lead, to learn more about the NGA Accelerator program and what’s coming in the future. She will share details on the types of technologies that most interest NGA as well as exciting highlights of the momentum that’s building in the geospatial innovation ecosystem.

Private capital firms have been leery of investing in companies that focus on federal government work, due in part to conventional funding timelines and concerns about translating military technology to the commercial market. But that trend is shifting. In the past 5 years, companies tagged “gov tech” on Crunchbase raised nearly $2B in investment, indicating major growth — and major opportunities — in the government market.

Join AFVentures, the commercial investment arm of the Air Force, to learn how they are helping drive this shift by transforming the Air Force and Space Force into a premier early-stage “investor." By speeding timelines and offering non-dilutive funding to match private capital, AFWERX is attracting more companies as partners and accelerating commercialization of technologies that support national security.

Software gets the attention but hardware is still key. Join NSIC, NSIN and AWS for a discussion on how hardware startups uniquely benefit from government funding. Don't miss out on understanding how non-dilutive capital can actually surpass the value of private investment when driving national security innovation.

This is a MUST ATTEND. Get an update and briefing on the returns on investment on current STRATFIs of the Air Forces big collaborative opportunities. Learn more about the upcoming opportunities and how you can take advantage of these as well! You won't want to miss out on this one!

Artificial intelligence pushes the limits of known possibility. Yet, AI creates unique challenges for public servants as much as philosophers. While countries like China push forward with AI in military applications, democracies like the U.S. are working to balance the game-changing capabilities that AI provides with public concerns about when, how, and why AI-enabled tools are used for the country’s defense.

U.S. leaders are taking these concerns seriously and working diligently to address them. Learn how DIU and others are helping apply the DoD's Ethical Principles for AI to accelerate the adoption of AI for national security while ensuring responsible, lawful use of this promising technology.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) provide additional capabilities on the battlefield to do things humans can't and help keep service members safe from harm. These devices have become invaluable to the U.S. military — which is why DIU developed the Blue UAS project. 

In this session, DIU staff and other experts from across the services will share details about the Blue UAS project and how they are using this project to build a robust, trusted UAS domestic industrial base amid cyber security and global supply chain challenges.

As the saying goes, “Software is eating the world.” It’s still largely true in the commercial market — and it’s true in national security as well. Highly complex software is now essential to many of the military’s systems and platforms. Coding has made its way to the front line.

The Army’s future operating environment will require that Soldiers can scope and implement software-based solutions on their own, without connectivity, and without outside support. This skill will help them act faster when things are going as planned — and respond faster when the unexpected happens. Join this inspiring session to learn how the Army is empowering Soldiers by building an organic software development capability within the force.

By natural extension of its collaborative culture and inspired by the call to action underlying the 2030 S&T Strategy, the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) has intensified its pursuit of new academic and industry partners with complementary capabilities to enable rapid performance cycles to meet the urgent demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), cyber, quantum, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) solutions that enhance the United States’ national security and economic competitiveness. With support from all levels of local, regional, state, and federal government, AFRL/RI has, in parallel to advancing new partnerships, led the development of a state-of-the-art open innovation environment just “over the fence” to expand the Lab’s reach into academic, industry, and startup partners who have vastly extended the Lab’s own capabilities, leveraging diverse computing systems, chip fabrication facilities, novel university technologies, and other federal programs and venture capital investments.

This panel will explore the new Innovare Advancement Center in Rome, NY, it’s aggressive five year strategy to establish 100 new technical partners, 100 new entrepreneurial ventures, and elevate the community’s intellectual leadership in its core technical areas. The panelists represent various members of the Innovare community, to include AFRL and the Griffiss Institute and will discuss opportunities to engage in these critical National Defense areas.

LTG Thomas Todd is Army Futures Command's chief innovation officer. He will share more about the work his team performs behind the scenes, its focus areas for the future, and how Army Futures Command sees the partnership between the Army and industry evolving to help both sides reach their goals.

Attention innovators! Here’s your chance to get to know NavalX, the workforce "super-connector" for the U.S. Navy. Formally announced in February 2019, this organization focuses on lowering barriers to make it easier for companies to work with the Navy and arming them with a variety of tools so they can move boldly and quickly forward.

In this overview session, NavalX Director CAPT Ben Van Buskirk will share more about Naval Agility and explain how NavalX connects experts and solutions across an ecosystem of potential opportunities. From investment to experimentation to technology transfer, find out how NavalX is evolving the Navy's innovation landscape — and how you can get involved.  

Modular open system architectures. Shared data repositories. Computer vision. These aren't just Silicon Valley concerns. The U.S. Army uses many of the same technologies as the commercial market and has many of the same needs — from wearables to robotics, electric vehicles to mixed reality, and beyond. 

In this session, technologists and leaders from across the Army will come together to offer a snapshot of their top-priority technology areas and announce opportunities for companies that may have never worked with the government to get involved.

In 2018, the US Army launched the Army Applications Laboratory (AAL) as an innovation unit embedded within Army Futures Command. Its goal: Foster opportunities to work with untapped companies that could bring dual-use technology and novel ideas to Army modernization. 

Join this session to hear AAL's new director, COL Jay Wisham, discuss his observations of the defense innovation space, share what the team has achieved to date, and explain the organization's vision for the future as it works to make the Army a better business partner for small- and mid-sized companies.

The U.S. is home to some of the most groundbreaking technology ever created — technology that has changed the world. GPS. Lithium batteries. The iPhone. These are all commonplace today, but they were once the major innovations of their time. And all of these innovations can trace their roots back to the U.S. military. That’s because, for decades, the military was out in front with research and development, from WWII to the Apollo missions and beyond. 

In this session, BG Stephanie Ahern will lead an informative and entertaining discussion with Army scientists, futurists, and commercial experts to explain how concepts about the future of battle influence where the Army invests today. Join us to learn more about the Army's technology roadmap and how companies with relevant solutions can become partners for the future.