The Catalyst Accelerator team kicked-off the first week of the AI/ML for Space and Maritime Applications (#CAAML) cohort last Tuesday, August 22nd, and it was a fantastic start to the program!
On the morning of the 22nd, the cohort enjoyed a catered breakfast, which allowed the cohort members to meet and interact with each other before getting an official welcome from the Catalyst Accelerator and Catalyst Campus teams.
Over breakfast, the cohort also had the chance to meet their Commercial Sherpas. For the #CAAML cohort, the Accelerator team is thrilled to have Deloitte, Kratos, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, and Two Six Technologies as Commercial Sherpas. Thank you to these companies for your support of the Accelerator program and this cohort!
The remainder of Tuesday was spent with Mo Kanwischer, President of Momentum Business Consulting, who met with each cohort company to discuss ABC statements, customer discovery, and deliverables. Mo has been with the Catalyst Accelerator team since the program’s inception and is an expert in commercialization and business growth. The group celebrated the end of the first day of the program with a cohort dinner at COATI, a trendy local cafeteria-style restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs.
Wednesday morning programming began with a pitch and Q&A session, where each cohort member gave a five-minute pitch about their company and technology and answered questions from their fellow cohort members. This exercise allowed the companies to get to know each other better and helped open the door to potential collaboration. The Accelerator team is excited to see what kinds of collaborations or partnerships will come out of this group!
Nine subject matter experts donated their time to speak with the cohort during week one. The companies had the pleasure of hearing from Rob Patterson, President of ONE Dev LLC, who presented his business development equation to the cohort; Capt Fletcher Ryan who gave the cohort an overview on SBIRs; and Jatin Bains, a Catalyst Accelerator Alum, who spoke to the group about his time in the program and his experience with AI in relation to the aerospace and maritime domains.
On Thursday, Ross Morrell, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at M2 Ventures, gave an engaging presentation on navigating national security. Ross provided the cohort with a “non-traditional” perspective and shared his vast wealth of knowledge with the group during his presentation and later in the afternoon when he met with each company 1-on-1. When asked about his thoughts on the first week of programming and the #CAAML cohort companies, he stated, “The companies in this joint Accelerator offer a wide array of technologies and capabilities that can immediately help close national security gaps across all domains.”
The cohort enjoyed a Happy Hour on Thursday night where approximately 75-80 attendees from both Government and Industry had the chance to network with the companies and create important connections. After the Happy Hour, the group had the opportunity to hear from Tim Sheyda, the Deputy Division Chief of the United States Northern Command, during Joint Defense Industry Night at Catalyst Campus.
At the end of the week, the cohort companies had the chance to meet with Ed Kase, President of EKase Consulting and expert in strategic marketing and business development, who wrote a market research report for the AI/ML for Space and Maritime Applications problem statement.
Additionally, the group heard from Maj David Tevenner who spoke about the importance of AI/ML technology from his perspective as part of the National Space Defense Center (NSDC). Afterwards, Maj Jonathan Turner presented a use case to the cohort from the Space Operations Command – Deputy Commanding General Transformation (DCG-T) viewpoint.
Week one programming wrapped up with an outstanding presentation and engaging 1-on-1s with Lt Col Kimmich who discussed the AI/ML landscape in his role as Materiel Leader, Cross Mission Data in the United States Space Force.
Thank you to each of the subject matter experts who donated their time to speak with the #CAAML cohort and answer their questions. The Catalyst Accelerator team is looking forward to week two with this incredible group of companies!
