Week of August 29, 2023
Pentagon Previews On-Ramping Process for $48B Tech R&D Contract
The Department of Defense (DoD) is reopening the $48 billion Information Analysis Center Multiple Award Contract (IAC-MAC). They will release a final solicitation soon, focusing on two pools: unrestricted and small businesses. The contract supports the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) and offers research and development services in various fields until September 29, 2027. In 2018, DoD initially awarded the contract to 18 defense industry firms, and in September 2022, they announced plans to award an additional $20 billion.
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One Year After CHIPS and Science Act: NSF Leaders Share Progress
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been implementing initiatives to safeguard research security in compliance with the CHIPS and Science Act, emphasizing collaboration with the research community. These initiatives include the “Research on Research Security Program” (RRSP) to study research security and the creation of the SECURE (Safeguarding the Entire Community in the U.S. Research Ecosystem) non-governmental organization, aiming to provide tools and resources for security-informed decisions in the research community. The NSF encourages diverse talent to participate and plans to launch these initiatives soon.
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DOE Announces $30 Million to Build Up Domestic Supply Chain for Critical Minerals
The U.S. Department of Energy is allocating up to $30 million to reduce costs in onshore production of rare earths and critical minerals from domestic coal resources. The initiative aims to strengthen domestic supply chains and reduce reliance on foreign sources for these essential materials, crucial for clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles.
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DOE Announces $70 Million in Research Training Opportunities for Students and Faculty from Historically Underrepresented Institutions
The U.S. DOE is providing $70 million through the RENEW initiative to support STEM diversity. It offers opportunities at 65 institutions, including 40 serving minority populations, aiming to enhance America’s energy transition and meet climate goals by nurturing underrepresented talent in science and technology. This initiative targets 23 states, the District of Columbia, and various Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), focusing on basic research in physical sciences.
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DARPA Offering Workshop on Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing Initiative
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is hosting a workshop on September 19th to explore industry recommendations for establishing a US-based R&D center focusing on 3D heterogeneously integrated (3DHI) microsystems. The conference will be held at the DARPA Conference Center in Arlington, Virginia.
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NSF Invests $29 Million in Quantum Sensing Research
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is investing $29 million in quantum information sciences research to advance quantum technology applications. The funding will support 18 research teams at U.S. universities, each receiving $1-2 million over four years. Projects focus on quantum sensing technology innovation for applications like quantum-enhanced telescopes, portable atomic clocks for gravitational field measurement, and medical imaging in live cells. Private sector leaders call for a greater emphasis on near-term quantum science applications alongside fundamental research.
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Public Spend Forum’s SBIR/STTR Report, Data, and Dashboard!
Excited to announce the release of our SBIR/STTR report, data, and dashboard – the first of Public Spend Forum‘s series on investments in critical tech.
The SBIR/STTR report and accompanying dashboard/data are focused on answering several critical questions:
• How are investments aligned by critical tech?
• What use cases and needs are tech investments focused on?
• Which agencies and programs are investing in which tech areas and use cases?
• Which companies are winning and what capabilities do they bring to the market?
• Which geographic regions/clusters are emerging across the country?
• What types of investments are being commercialized and lead to commercial capital?
Here is the link to download the brochure!
To get access to the dashboard and comprehensive data behind the analysis, please reach out to us at support@publicspendforum.net
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Event: AI DC 2023 – Securing America’s Future
The AI DC conference is an exclusive gathering of America’s leading minds in the realms of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, national security, and policy-making. This one-day event based in Washington DC is focused on driving robust discussions around AI’s implications for our nation’s security, the potential for innovation with AI, and the strategies we can implement to safeguard our homeland via policy and technology. This is a widely attended event and is in compliance with House and Senate Ethics Committee Rules and Regulations.
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How a Hacking Crew Overtook a Satellite from Inside a Las Vegas Convention Center and Won $50,000
The DEF CON hacking conference, organized by the Air Force, featured the first-ever capture of the flag in space. Five global hacker teams competed to breach the “Moonlighter” satellite, launched by NASA and SpaceX. The event faced a dramatic evacuation but ultimately awarded the winning team $50,000 and bragging rights for the first space CTF victory.
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U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation Announces the First Cohort in the NSF INTERN Program to Support Growth of the Geothermal Energy Workforce
The U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation have introduced the first Geothermal INTERN program cohort. Fourteen students from diverse backgrounds and institutions will work on geothermal projects, supporting the Enhanced Geothermal Shot™ initiative to expand geothermal systems and reduce costs by 90% by 2035. The collaboration aims to train a clean energy workforce and tap into the potential of renewable geothermal power.
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China’s Rare Earths Dominance makes U.S. Supply Chains Vulnerable
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai expressed concern about China’s dominance in rare earths, highlighting supply chain vulnerabilities. She discussed China’s ability to control pricing and called for diversifying supply chains. Tai emphasized the need for additional supply sources to reduce dependency on China’s leverage in the rare earths market.
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Customer Testimonial: Deep Tech and Market Analysis with Air Force Research Labs
WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND COMPLEX MARKETS, QUALIFY SUPPLIERS AND MANAGE SUPPLIER RISK
If you would like to put our comprehensive market, supply chain, demand and tech data on millions of suppliers and tech markets along with our expert advisory services/workshops to work for you, please reach out to us at support@publicspendforum.net.
We can help in three ways:
- AI-Assisted Market and Supplier/Supply Chain Intelligence Reports and Data through our AI-Assisted Market Intelligence (AIMI) offering. We use our comprehensive datasets, AI-MI technology assisted by our SMEs to create a custom market report and datasets that helps you understand market and tech trends, map out the ecosystem of small business, underserved and non-traditional and incumbents; qualify suppliers and assess supplier risk; map the R&D landscape and discover the venture capital and funding network.
- Market and Supply Chain Intelligence Advisory Services – We bring our decades of strategic market intelligence and supply chain expertise along with our powerful datasets and AI to help you develop plans to strengthen your supplier base, map out multi-tier supply chains, qualify and monitor suppliers and understand supply chain risk.
- Market and Supplier Intelligence Training and Workshops – Access the best faculty and practitioners such as Dr. Rob Handfield (NC State) in the world and get your team up to speed by learning the most cutting-edge methods for market and supplier intelligence
The key questions we help you answer:
- What are the emerging technology trends in a specific market? For example, we just analyzed markets such as batteries for aircraft, polymers and elastomers for in-space repair, and mobility solutions.
- Who are the participants in the ecosystem (R&D labs, venture capital, startups, underserved)?
- Who are the small and underserved companies in the market and what track record do they have?
- Where is there risk in our supply chain and how we can best manage it?
Subscribe to the Critical Tech Market Insider to get important market insights on critical tech markets and to become part of our 20,000+ community
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