By 
SOFWERX, in collaboration with USSOCOM’s Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T), will host the eleventh Innovation Foundry (IF11) Event, where S&T Futures seeks to bring together U.S. and International Special Operations Forces (SOF), Industry, Academia, Government, and futurists in an exploration, design thinking, facilitated event to assist USSOCOM in decomposing future scenarios and missions.
The theme of IF11 will be “SOF Operations in a World of Omnipresent Sensor Networks”. The goal of the event is to develop concepts and approaches for the framework, technologies, infrastructure, and capabilities required to effectively conduct SOF operations in a world where omnipresent sensors track people, organizations, vehicles, and systems throughout their lives, at home and around the world in both the physical and virtual realms. In this effort, S&T Futures will be working with international S&T liaisons, USSOCOM staff, the USSOCOM Next-Generation ISR and Tactically Relevant Situational Awareness (NGISR/SA) Capability Focus Area (CFA), and Joint Staff Intelligence (J2).
To ground the discussion, IF11 participants will use a fictional mission scenario that reflects the future operating environment with omnipresent sensor networks that are part of the civilian infrastructure. This scenario will also consider the potential for additional sensor networks emplaced by military and intelligence organizations who may be friendly, neutral, or adversaries. Participants will emphasize the opportunities and challenges related to these sensor networks and their resultant information products, reflecting the complex interplays of social, technological, political, and cultural factors as they might play out in the 2035 timeframe.
The event will be a compelling opportunity for leading minds in Industry, Academia, Labs, and Government, as well as Subject Matter Experts in sensor design and development, RF technologies, LPI/LPD solutions, data analysis, data visualization, communications technologies, networking, autonomous systems, robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, situational awareness, social and behavioral sciences, and SOF Operations to ideate, collaborate, and develop concepts for the future needs of SOF. USSOCOM has also used Innovation Foundries to build key relationships with local and regional entrepreneurs and technology developers.
Problem Statement
How do we move from traditional Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms and sensors to future state of the art methods to understand and conduct operations in this future environment, considering both offensive and defensive perspectives? How can we collect, analyze, and disseminate data, as well as effectively use the resulting product(s) to operate in a contested/constrained environment?
IF11 participants will develop concepts for future SOF missions, addressing situational awareness and signature management, as well as related questions including maneuverability, operations, effects, and countermeasures in a world of omnipresent sensors.
Review the full Innovation Foundry 11 notice.
Source: SAM
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