DOD Manufacturing Innovation Institutes’ Workshop Tackles Opportunities from Pentagon’s Modernization Targets

The focus technologies for the Department of Defense’s Organic Industrial Base Modernization Challenge were discussed in a workshop held from Oct. 25 to 26 in Chicago. 

According to a DOD press release issued on Tuesday, the challenge is a closed event for invited programs and is expected to offer $2.5 million for technologies that advance or transition the department’s critical technology areas. 

The challenge, which will also cover priorities defined by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, will feature a project pitch session wherein $500,000 awards are at stake for solution proponents, the DOD said. 

The Chicago workshop, which the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Manufacturing Technology Program hosted, gathered stakeholders of the DOD’s Manufacturing Innovation Institutes composed of 11 public-private partnerships designed to drive commercial investments in manufacturing technologies. The current OIB modernization needs and their ensuing opportunities for project proposals were discussed during the workshop.

Steve Luckowski, DOD MII’s program manager, said the institutes’ industry partnership enables the DOD to “access modern manufacturing technologies that are potential game changers for the OIB.” The workshop provided “an excellent opportunity” for discussions on military industrial installations’ problems.

In a related development, six project proposals from DOD MII members were chosen during a Point of Need Challenge Pitch Event held in May. The event’s pitches included tools and platforms for warfighter medical, cyber resilience and health and nutrition, according to an ExecutiveBiz report.