LIVE EVENT: Industry Day & Prize Challenge Kickoff – Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) for Waterside Security

Wednesday, July 14, 2021
3:00-5:00PM EDT
401 Tech Bridge Advanced Materials & Technology Center in Portsmouth, RI

FEATURING: Steve Bordonaro, Director, Naval X Northeast Tech Bridge

Prizes and challenges are competitions among individuals, communities, government entities, businesses, institutions, or non-profit organizations to achieve defined goals in a defined timeframe. Cash prizes are used to reach beyond the “usual suspects” and increase the number of problem-solvers addressing a critical issue.

401 Tech Bridge, in collaboration with the NavalX Northeast Tech Bridge, launched this U.S. Navy prize challenge with as prize of $50,000.

The US Navy has a requirement for a modular, expeditionary security Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) that is reusable and provides for low-cost maintenance. Given the expeditionary nature of the system, it must be produced or assembled at the point of need. This Challenge seeks a design for a USV that can be shipped in a standard 20-foot shipping container, produced or assembled on site in less than two hours and capable of carrying or towing a variety of payloads.

This is a theoretical challenge that requires only a written proposal to be submitted. The challenge award will be contingent upon evaluation of the proposal. This challenge carries an award of $50,000. Those submitting top-rated design proposals may have the opportunity for continued work for prototype development under a follow-on Other Transactions prototype, in the amount up to $1 million.

The prize challenge guidelines can be viewed on Challenge.gov or on the InnoCentive platform. Submissions to this challenge must be received via the InnoCentive platform by 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on September 13, 2021. Late submissions will not be considered.

We hosted an in-person industry day and prize challenge kickoff on July 14 at the 401 Tech Bridge Advanced Materials & Technology Center in Portsmouth, RI. It featured:

· An introduction to 401 Tech Bridge
· Overview of the problem and the challenge from Navy technical points of contact
· Introduction to InnoCentive, the prize challenge platform
· Opportunity for Q&A with the technical points of contact

Masks were required for those who were not fully vaccinated; masks were optional for fully vaccinated attendees.