A small business with a prestigious board of directors is the second firm selected in an AFCEA Small Business Innovation Showcase competition June 7 to uncover innovative emerging technologies. The company, ClearForce of Vienna, Virginia, won against three other firms with its proprietary technology for seeking out employees who might be motivated to commit insider crimes deliberately as well as accidentally.
Small Business Innovation Summit 2018
ClearForce of Vienna, Virginia, a small business with a prestigious board of directors, was named the champion of an AFCEA shark tank tournament that featured a total of 14 small businesses offering 15 different entrepreneurial technologies. The winner of a two-month long shark tank competition for entrepreneurial cyber-related technology was selected by audience participants in an innovation summit.
A small business providing advanced data security is the third and final firm selected in an AFCEA Small Business Innovation Shark Tank competition to uncover innovative emerging technologies. The company, Avocado of San Jose, California, won against six other firms with its distributed and deterministic layer-7 application security platform.
A company designing networked drones for disaster relief is the first small business selected in an AFCEA Small Business Innovation Shark Tank competition to uncover innovative emerging technologies. The company, LTAid of Vancouver, Washington, is building unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can serve emergency responders as well as warfighters in theater.
“The demand for logistics outstrips the ability of logistics,” said LTAid’s Chris Thobaben during the competition. “We look to revolutionize a small piece of the supply chain, but it’s the most critical piece.”
Small business may hold the key to helping the Navy meet its advanced technology requirements as it girds for a contested future. Speeding new capabilities into the force, along with breaking the traditional mold of acquisition, could prevent the Navy from falling short of its modernization goals.
These points were presented by James F. Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. Speaking at the AFCEA Small Business Innovation Summit, Geurts described the agility of small businesses as a key asset that could serve Navy needs—and one where small business can have an effect.
The U.S. Navy is working to speed cyber capabilities to the force to keep up with both technology innovation and adversarial activities. Major obstacles can be found both internally and externally, and security concerns dominate all modernization efforts.