We started with a presentation of opportunities in the space from Todd Russell on some federal government solicitations in our space. Part of his presentation centered around various agency approaches to adopt innovative technologies. He used the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, National Security Technology Accelerator, and Homeland Security Innovation Programs as example programs. Part of one implied approach was finding an agency who has a need that matches your upcoming/nascent technology. For example, if you’re developing a highly sensitive anthrax biosensor, you might explore the Homeland Security Innovation Program. His slides are here (PDF).

Next we heard from Kurt Kelley. Kurt presented some needs that were directly expressed by the Los Angeles CIO at a recent conference. One of the needs centered around the seemingly mundane issue of cracks in sidewalks. In that vein, one of the points that Kurt mentioned centered around our enthusiastic technical focus. He suggested considering not presenting a possible solution in abstract technical terms, such as “I’ve got an IoT solution for you”, but rather “My solution detects cracks in sidewalk and integrates into existing city cameras… uses computer vision …” An excerpt of his slides are here (PDF).