ATTENTION: This session requires advance signup to attend. For Online Schedule: Please utilize the RSVP link below the description to reserve your seat. For SXSW GO App: Use the RSVP 'Find a Timeslot' link. You must have a SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badge to attend, and, you must have an activated SXsocial account (social.sxsw.com) to reserve a seat. If you have any issues with signing up, please email support@sxsw.com. VERY IMPORTANT: Because of the limited space, we recommend you arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the published start time of this session. If you have not checked in at the room you RSVPed for at least five minutes prior to the session start time, you may lose your seat to an attendee in the waiting list line.
Prerequisites:
None.
What to Bring:
Smart phone tablet or computer to participate in an interactive ideas gathering.
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is looking for your best ideas on how we can mobilize and repurpose cutting-edge smart technologies to strengthen the safety and security of our nation. Focusing on wearable technologies, this discussion is a “call to action” to challenge you to think differently about the role science and technology plays in saving lives. S&T envisions a future where mobile sensors, communications, materials, and visualization technologies seamlessly work together to enhance the safety of our responders— those who put their lives on the line every day to protect the American people.
We want to hear from you! S&T is seeking 10X and 100X improvements in key R&D areas, like preparing the responder of the future and embedding electronics as part of a responder’s gear. To keep pace with the speed of innovation, S&T is initiating prize challenges and an accelerator program to attract businesses working on wearable tech. These efforts will enhance industry partnerships, spur collaborative R&D, and create new opportunities to expand the wearables marketplace.
Are you ready to change public safety? We invite you to join our discussion, drive new ways of doing business with the government, and build lasting public-private relationships for years to come.
Key takeaways include:
1. Understand where to start and how to do business with S&T.
2. Learn about S&T’s R&D roadmap and partnering and business opportunities.
3. Tell S&T how it can re-structure planning initiatives, like wearables, to fit into the existing consumer marketplace of delivering innovative solutions to customers.
4. Hear from S&T responders on existing challenges and capability gaps and how to collaborate with stakeholders to ensure technologies make the right impacts.
5. Tell S&T what is needed from government to operate at the pace of innovation and be a stronger partner in the digital age.
Background:
S&T is hosting a series of in-person open dialogues for the National Conversation on how government conducts R&D. These discussions aim to generate a host of ideas on user needs, capability gaps, and new ways to implement technology solutions.
To reach any measure of success, S&T needs to work closely with non-traditional communities such as SXSW—the creative developers, technologists, and innovators who understand the speed of innovation in industry and how it connects to commerce, resiliency, and security.
Get an inside look at how S&T is on the forefront of change that will impact homeland security nationwide. Meet fellow innovators and government leaders who work in technology, understand the challenges and opportunities, and share forward-thinking ideas on how government can reinvent R&D.
This discussion will serve as a key platform for engaging industry leaders and sharing innovative ideas for how S&T can form new partnerships and make our responder community more effective.
Timeline:
3:30-3:45pm – Opening Ted Talk by Dr. Reginald Brothers, DHS S&T Under Secretary. Inspiring talk on how wearable tech will change public safety and save lives. Future responder needs to receive actionable information at the speed of thought so S&T is looking to build industry partnerships to identify innovative solutions. S&T needs your help to fill the void on what could be and what exists today.
3:45-4:00pm – Audience reaction on how can S&T can leverage consumer product development into the public safety space? And wow can S&T seed development and innovation for products and capabilities that will also have consumer market value?
4:00-5:45pm – Town Hall: Securing our Future and Personalizing S&T’s Call to Action! Dr. Brothers’ remarks will create a void between current and future state. Come join this town hall and share your perspective on what does the future include for wearable tech and public safety. A host of top-level speakers from wearable tech, media, government, emergency response, and the business community, will provide insights on existing obstacles and opportunities for spurring government and industry innovation and what types of wearable tech innovation should be given priority attention by S&T.
5:45-6:00om – Closing and thank you!
View
official listing on sxsw.com