Fall Fed Supernova Schedule
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Overview and Welcome Message
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.
Technology Focus Areas and Industry Engagement
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.
Industry Engagement Pipeline Process
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.
NGA Small Business Initiatives
Small business is a big priority for the federal government — including the Department of Defense. Not only is there economic value in helping U.S. startups and entrepreneurs succeed, but the DoD is working hard to up its technology game by diversifying its industrial base with new ideas, new technologies, and new partners.
With nearly 50% of major DoD awards still concentrated within the same five companies, find out how NGA is doing its part to make it easier for small businesses to work with the government. Dale Rainey will brief you on how he ensures these companies — especially women- and minority-owned businesses — are provided an equitable opportunity for prime and subcontracting opportunities.
National Security Innovation Investment: Get Capabilities to Market Faster
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.
Networking
Catch your breath, grab a coffee, and chat with changemakers. Get energized and inspired by the world-class professionals in the room and expand your network to the next level.
Artificial Intelligence: Innovation at the Speed of Trust
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.
Building a Capable and Trusted Drone Ecosystem for the US and Our Partners
Joel Castillo
Office of Secretary of Defense (A&S), Unmanned Aircraft Systems/Robotic Autonomous Systems
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.
Turning Soldiers into Software Developers
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.
Outcomes Matter: Enabling Continuous Delivery to Avoid Innovation Theater
Continuous Delivery (CD) is the ability to get software into production — or into the hands of users — safely, quickly, and in a sustainable way. This engineering approach is critical to driving outcomes in software development organizations and in making sure they deliver software solutions rather than just promises.
Learn how adopting CD has allowed DoD software development organizations across the Air Force, Army, and beyond to deliver real outcomes rather than more innovation theater.
Doing Business with DoD: Acquiring Software From Industry
The DoD acquisition enterprise can be challenging to navigate. Software intensive efforts in the Air Force, Army, and Navy are leveraging commercial technologies and agile methodology to more rapidly deliver new capabilities to the warfighter.
This panel will include speakers from the Air Force's Kessel Run, Army Software Factory, and Navy Black Pearl software practice for a discussion of how each approaches innovation and engagement with industry. Join us to gain insights into key focus areas and recommendations for successful collaboration between government and Industry.
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
NavalX Overview and Outcomes
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.
Naval Agility: Responding to the Changing Environment
Stay tuned for more information about the nuclear impact of the Navy's chief modernizer, Rear Adm. Lorin Selby, on Fed Supernova 2021.
The Cost of Not Pivoting
U.S. companies are facing an unprecedented set of challenges — economic uncertainty, decline of critical markets and suppliers, global competition, loss of vital skills in the workforce, and more. In fact, there are 250+ areas where the country’s industrial base and supply chain face critical risks, and these challenges have a direct impact on our national security.
During this panel, you will have the chance to dive deeper into the threats facing the U.S. industrial base during global competition. Members of the Foreign Investment Tiger Team, CIFIUS, NCIS, the Office of Naval Research, OSD’s Trusted Capital Marketplace, and the Defense Investment Network will discuss how they are working to mitigate these threats with carrots and sticks.
Lightning Talk: SBIR
Join us for a presentation on how the Department of Navy SBIR program is mobilizing to transition technology faster than ever before.
Lightning Talk: Tech Bridge Overview
Curious about what the NavalX Tech Bridges are? We've got just the session for you! The NavalX Tech Bridges are a connected network that enhances collaboration between Naval Labs, industry, academia, and other military branches. Join the Tech Bridges Director at NavalX for an overview of how to utilize the Tech Bridges ecosystems and tap into opportunities.
Energizing Future Generations
The U.S. Navy has set its sights on renewable energy as an alternative to fossil fuels — and not just because it’s good for the planet. Power sources that can be replenished naturally offer game-changing possibilities for military operations. By generating power from renewable energy resources, the Navy can reduce its dependence on an increasingly fragile supply chain while also reducing its carbon footprint.
Doing that requires partnership with the commercial industry, which is generally ahead of the military on the next generation of renewables. Find out how the Navy piloted a different business model to address energy resilience challenges through public-private partnerships and what collaboration opportunities it has planned as part of its Asia-Pacific Technology & Education program.
Lightning Talk: Naval Enterprise Sustainment Technology Team (NESTT)
Maintenance and sustainment are not glamorous concepts — at least, they didn’t used to be. Now, however, the military is incorporating Industry 5.0-style technology to make sure the systems used on the front line are safe, efficient, and optimized to guard taxpayer dollars and keep the men and women who need them safe.
From mixed reality training to predictive maintenance to robotics, learn more about NESTT’s role in bringing innovative solutions to the Navy’s maintenance and sustainment challenges. Steve McKee will discuss how he and his team are connecting end users in Maintenance Depots across services to critical commercial technology through the SBIR program and beyond.
Lightning Talk: PEO IWS
The mission of the Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) is to develop, deliver and sustain operationally dominant combat systems for Sailors. How? And what's next? Join this session to learn just that and also how NESTT is adapting its model to take advantage of commercial capabilities.
Public-Private Partnerships: A Human Network to Support Unmanned Systems
Much like commercial industry, the U.S. military is increasing its use of unmanned and anonymous systems to perform tasks that humans can’t — or shouldn’t — do. Far beyond aerial drones, these mobile-guided vehicles also operate on land, in water, or in space to reduce costs, save lives, and advance our society into a safer, smarter future.
That’s exactly why the U.S Navy and Marine Corps have prioritized unmanned systems as key enablers for their missions. This panel brings together stakeholders from across the Department of the Navy to articulate their current challenges, explain how the Navy is adapting to overcome them, and share how they are partnering with innovative companies to adopt new capabilities in this space.