COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, July 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Catalyst Accelerator is thrilled to announce the selection of six exceptional, US-based companies for their 12th cohort focused on AI/ML for Space and Maritime Applications.
The Catalyst Accelerator, powered by the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RV), exists to empower nontraditional technology companies to accelerate their involvement in the national defense ecosystem by providing connections, mentorship, and business development in a collaborative setting for a lasting national impact. According to the Presidential Executive Order 13859; Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, “Continued American leadership in AI is of paramount importance to maintaining the economic and national security of the United States and to shaping the global evolution of AI in a manner consistent with our Nation's values, policies, and priorities.”
The AI/ML for Space and Maritime Applications cohort (#CAAML) is the first joint Accelerator between the US Space Force and US Navy. The #CAAML cohort will launch on August 22nd and will end on November 17th. Throughout the program, the companies will be splitting their time between Colorado Springs, Colorado and College Park, Maryland to allow for equal exposure to the Space Force and Naval ecosystems. Each company will also collaborate with subject matter experts from both the Space Force and Naval sectors, work with government and commercial Sherpas, and complete an intensive customer discovery process. The cohort will culminate in two Demo Days (Nov 9 – Colorado Springs, Nov 16 – College Park) where they will pitch their technology to Government and Industry partners as well as investors assessing the potential of cohort company technologies.
“We are incredibly excited about our first joint Accelerator between the Space Force and Navy! We look forward to the collaboration between the Forces and the small businesses who specialize in AI/ML. Hearing use cases from industry and government, then discovering how our companies might solve some of the challenges presented, is one of the most exhilarating parts of the Accelerator,” explained Shae Thomas, Program Facilitator for the Catalyst Accelerator.
The Catalyst Accelerator team, with technical advisement from Government, Industry, and Academia, underwent a rigorous selection process in order to carefully select the companies for the #CAAML cohort. The following startups were chosen based on their demonstrated potential and innovative capability solutions:
Data2 (Data Squared) (Wilmington, Delaware) At Data Squared USA Inc, our mission is to revolutionize data analysis through cutting-edge technology and expertise in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLM). By unlocking valuable insights from millions of unstructured data sources through the application of knowledge graphs, we build ontologies that empower organizations to make informed decisions that go beyond traditional quantitative analysis. Our focus lies in developing efficient Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) pipelines and providing novel solutions that leverage the potential of unstructured data for impactful outcomes.
Duality Systems (Monument, Colorado) Duality Systems focuses on business optimization in four core areas supported by PhD-level expertise: Operations Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, and Decision and Risk Analysis. Our scheduling product, Balance Scheduler, uses AI-based algorithms to produce efficiencies of scale, provide better solutions that can ingest more variables and potential outcomes near-instantly, and drive a far better user and organizational experience. It can be applied to personnel, operations, and logistics. It creates the conditions for more informed decisions, larger decision windows, and efficient long term strategic planning as well as shaping long-term risk mitigation and decision support strategies within the most complex environments.
Exosite (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Exosite provides off the shelf products and services to Industrial OEMs and other organizations that benefit from collecting data from equipment, analyzing that data, and taking action based upon the data. Exosite has worked with hundreds of customers since its founding in 2009 with a current focus on organizations providing maintenance and services to high value equipment. Exosite’s software offers a low code experience, is highly configurable, and offers flexible integrations with 3rd party systems without requiring software development expertise.
Precursor SPC (Seattle, Washington) Precursor SPC’s vision is to ensure continuous global superiority in space operations through accurate and timely information advantage, distribution, and execution. Precursor is developing a first-of-a-kind AI/ML Space Weather Nowcasting and Forecasting platform, the only solution available today that provides real-time high resolution 4D representation of the actual Space environment and delivers on-demand actionable Space Weather information for military, civilian and commercial operations. Precursor’s Nowcasting refers to forecasting current and near-future events based on real-time rather than historical data or physics-based models. Precursor’s Nowcasting is based on a high-fidelity representation of the actual Space environment and is the foundation for Forecasting. Precursor’s real-time Space Weather Nowcasting and Forecasting delivers unmatched capabilities for public safety and national security Use Cases.
R-DEX Systems, Inc. (Woodstock, Georgia) R-DEX Systems, Inc. develops and deploys cutting edge Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and advanced sensor solutions for mission critical systems. Our vision is to bring AI out of experimental settings and into operational environments. As a leading innovator of advanced AI systems for the Department of Defense, R-DEX has built efficient AI and machine learning operational pipelines and services to support the development and deployment of trusted and generalizable AI technologies. This has resulted in a portfolio of AI products that span multiple sensor modalities for a wide range of applications in Aided/Automatic Target Recognition (Ai/ATR), Electronic Warfare (EW), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), radar, wireless communications, and autonomous systems.
RS21 (Albuquerque, New Mexico) RS21 is a data science company that uses AI, data engineering, design, and software development to create AI/ML solutions for NNSA, DHS, and DOD. Our team brings deep expertise in predictive model development, risk and threat modeling, natural language processing, and data governance and standards. RS21 has built a proven AI-powered tool that performs fault detection and prediction to safeguard critical equipment and the important functions they perform.
The Catalyst Accelerator is proud to play a pivotal role in driving technological advancements and fostering innovation in the space and maritime sectors. By bringing together talented startups and industry leaders, the Accelerator aims to fast-track the development and deployment of AI/ML technologies that will shape the future of these industries.
About Catalyst Accelerator
The Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate and United States Space Force’s Catalyst Accelerator is a NewSpace-focused defense and national security industry accelerator, headquartered on the Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation (CCTI) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. CCTI is a collaborative ecosystem where industry, small business, entrepreneurs, startups, government, academia, and investors intersect with Colorado’s aerospace and defense industry to create community, spark innovation, and stimulate business growth. The Catalyst Accelerator is a collaborative program hosted by Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation (CCTI, a Colorado 501(c)3) in partnership with the United States Space Force, and the Air Force Research Laboratory to provide a robust, mentor-driven curriculum for accelerator teams.
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