Solving Operational Problems with Today’s Technology: Launching the Apex Conference Series

Part 1: DIU’s Vision for Replicator with Aditi Kumar

Top Four Takeaways:

• Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) 3.0 focuses on synchronizing warfighter needs with commercial capabilities, catalyzing the innovation ecosystem, and delivering results at speed and scale. This builds on DIU 1.0 (building bridges to Silicon Valley) and DIU 2.0 (demonstrating the ability to access commercial tech through new contracting approaches).
• Replicator is an initiative focused on rapidly innovating and fielding new capabilities, pulling them years earlier than normal timelines would. The first Replicator initiative is focused on all-domain attritable autonomous systems, with the goal of fielding thousands of systems within 18 to 24 months.
• DIU is focused on embedding personnel with combatant commands to deeply understand their technology needs and ensure DIU’s projects align with top priorities. For example, DIU hosted a workshop focused on Ukraine’s urgent drone needs and potential commercial solutions.
• DIU is working to coordinate the Defense Innovation Community of Entities—various Department of Defense innovation organizations—to understand common concerns, increase collaboration, and present shared recommendations for senior leaders to support. This will help catalyze the broader defense innovation ecosystem.

• Link to Machine transcription of conversation 

Part 2: The role of CDAO in Supporting Joint Integration with Margaret Palmieri

Top Four Takeaways:

• The mission of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) is to accelerate the DoD’s adoption of data analytics and artificial intelligence. This requires making data accessible across the ecosystem to create solutions for DoD problems. CDAO is taking an experimentation-based approach to determine what works.
• To prioritize its efforts, the DoD has crafted a hierarchy of needs that starts with data availability but also considers the character and quality of data—all of which are foundational steps for the application of analytics or AI algorithms. Data scientists play a critical translation role between mission needs and data systems.
• CDAO strives to take a workflow lens on data analytics and AI, understanding today’s operational concepts and workflows, and using experimentation to explore new, data-informed workflows.
• Autonomy, decision support, and generative AI have major potential for the DoD. Adapting to the learning curve from hardware and software to AI-centric systems is critical.

• Link to Machine transcription of conversation

Part 3

Agenda

1:00 p.m.: Opening Remarks

• Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, Hudson Institute
• Sally de Swart, Managing Director, Clarion Defense and Security

1:05 p.m.: Address

• Aditi Kumar, Deputy Director for Strategy, Policy, and National Security Partnerships, Defense Innovation Unit

1:30 p.m.: Conversation 

• Margaret Palmieri, Deputy Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence Officer, Department of Defense
• Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, Hudson Institute

2:15 p.m.: Panel Discussion

• Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer, Palantir
• Colin Carroll, Senior Director of Strategy, Anduril
• Wes Naylor, CEO and Cofounder, Helicon Chemical Company
• Jimmy Jones, STITCHES Warfighter Application Team Lead, US Air Force

Moderator

• Vago Muradian, Editor, Defense & Aerospace Report

3:00 p.m.: Event Concludes