DARPA Forward has been taking national security innovation on the road. Since August – and through December 2022 – six regional events were scheduled at leading research and development universities nationwide to connect Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency leaders with new communities of talent and partnerships. The ultimate goal: to energize regional and national innovation ecosystems, fuel breakthroughs in national security, and help deliver the U.S. technological advantage.
Attendees hear from world-renowned scientists, accomplished innovators, and senior defense leaders about new capabilities as well as the rapidly evolving challenges faced by warfighters. In addition, attendees will have an opportunity to dive into diverse topics within and across multiple domains and disciplines, including air/space, ground, virtual, social, bio/medical, electromagnetic, materials/manufacturing, maritime, and computing/AI/cyber.
Throughout its more than 60-year history, DARPA has challenged researchers from across academia, industry, and government to create transformative solutions to national security problems. Many of these solutions also have benefited daily civilian life. “With DARPA Forward, we want to inspire new thinking across and at the intersection of disciplines to support our mission of creating technological surprise,” said Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, DARPA Director. “We want people to take from these events a desire to help change the world for the better and to know working with DARPA is a tangible way to do it.” (1)
As these will be hybrid conferences, DARPA invites you to join them in person for one event and virtually for as many as you’d like.
Previous DARPA Forward sessions included:
- August 30-31 – Fort Collins, CO at Colorado State University
- September 13-14 – Pullman, WA at Washington State University
- October 4-5 – Columbus, OH at The Ohio State University
- October 25-26 – Atlanta, GA at Georgia Institute of Technology
- November 15-16 – College Station, TX at Texas A&M University
Upcoming DARPA Forward sessions include:
Both are available for attendance via virtual registration.
Areas of discussion on the agenda at the recent College Station event included:
- Critical Biomedical Challenges for Prolonged Field Care
- Thriving in Austere Environments
- Demo: Atomic Magnetometer for Biological Imaging in Earth’s Native Terrain (AMBIENT)
- Closing the Loop on Learning
- Demo: Make It
- Technology Revolutions – Seeds of Revolution
- Constructive, Virtual, Live Testing
- Keynote Address: Admiral Samuel Paparo, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet
- Breakthroughs in Field Robotics
- Keynote Address: Honorable Doug Bush, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology
- Composing Effects in the Joint Battlespace
- Discover/Develop/Deliver
- Enabling Next-Generation Communications
- Bio to Bits
- Demo: Friend or Foe
- Non-Equilibrium Nanophotonics
- Cyber Operations: The Stakes are Only Getting Higher
- Internet Freedom and Privacy
- Keynote Address: Honorable Christine Wormuth, Secretary of the Army
Areas of discussion on the agenda at the upcoming San Diego event include:
- Interpreting and Developing Interventions for Warfighter Health and Performance
- Bits to Bio
- Expanding Operations in the Arctic
- Demo: Mobile Force Protection (MFP)
- Engineering Polyketide Synthases for Synthetic Chemistry
- Medical Triage Challenge
- Keynote Address: LTG Scott Dingle, Surgeon General, US Army
- Quantum: Separating the Real from the Hype
- Russian Information Operations in Ukraine
- Software Development and Assurance Pipeline
- Broadscale Innovations to Detect and Combat Disease
- Quantum Computing
- Pushing the Limits of Technology
- Demo: Extreme Optics and Imaging (EXTREME)
- Next-Generation Communication
- Future G in the DoD
- Demo: Ocean of Things
- Power Everywhere
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