The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate launched a collaborative series meant to spur conversation about the future of homeland security technology.
The “National Conversation on Homeland Security Technology” is a series of online and in-person discussions designed to get people talking about how to develop innovate solutions for the Nation’s homeland security challenges. The series includes webinars, in person roundtables, town hall meetings, and workshops. Operational users, technologists, entrepreneurs, and the general public are all encouraged to join in the conversation by visiting http://scitech.ideascale.com/a/home.
The National Conversation will revolve around the following five primary topic-based dialogues:
- Responder of the Future (January 12 – April 10)
- Enable the Decision Maker (February 23 – May 22)
- Screening at Speed (April 6 – July 3)
- A Trusted Cyber Future (May 18 – August 14)
- Resilient Communities (June 29 – September 25)
Each of those dialogues will involve four phases of activity:
- A 3-week Q&A session about responder/operational user capability gaps;
- A 3-week ideation session for pitching and ranking ideas for innovation;
- A webinar that will present dialogue highlights and introduce the dialogue’s Inspiration Awards Competition; and
- A 4-week Inspiration Awards Competition – an incentives-based competition that will be designed around the outcomes of the dialogue’s ideation session.
START research director Amy Pate says this event is an excellent way for START to get involved in a broader discussion about homeland security.
“These dialogues will allow our researchers to provide background on the topic of terrorism while developing a broader view on the homeland security market and learning more about the innovative ideas coming from other S&T stakeholders.”