Vanguard Magazine

26 APRIL/MAY 2019 www.vanguardcanada.com "Machine learning and computer vision have entered a sort of renaissance in the last six or so years. As younger researchers, IDEaS has helped us enter the field more quickly than usual, and hopefully we'll be able to go on to make meaningful contri- butions sooner as well," said Betlen. Through the IDEaS program, Betlen and Miller now have their first significant opportunity to grow both their expertise and company, and to make their mark in the defence and security environment. Their story is just one of the examples of how increasing access to innovators from all levels and backgrounds will help De- fence achieve results and advance solutions by leveraging scientific excellence. Opportunities and Options Another foundational component of the IDEaS program is the range of challenges and opportunities available to innovators. Rather than using traditional government contracts, the program offers a number of different ways to propose solutions, at var- ious stages of readiness, resulting in ben- efits for innovators and for DND/CAF. "For Defence, having access to the Ca- nadian innovation community is going to help us achieve the results that we need, solving our innovation challenges and meeting our priorities into the future. But equally so, for the innovator to have ac- cess to a number of methods to contribute deFenCe PoLiCY their innovative ideas is critical to success," said Eric Fournier, Director General for the IDEaS program. The program is divided into eight in- dependent components, five of which are designed to access Canadian innovators – the elements – and the other three to as- sist the innovator in achieving results – the enablers. Combined, the components will help develop, connect and evaluate inno- vators' solutions to ultimately help resolve defence and security challenges. Elements of iDEaS The Competitive projects element, under which the two young entrepreneurs from Toronto submitted their proposal, allows innovators to present solutions toward de- fence and security challenges. When solu- tions show promise, the IDEaS program provides funding to help mature those solutions into prototypes and potential capabilities. Innovation networks is the element that provides opportunities to address longer- term challenges by creating clusters of academics, industry and other partners to stimulate collaboration and the free flow of ideas. IDEaS has already launched two calls under this element and is seeing sig- nificant interest from innovators. The Sandboxes element is the compo- nent in which testing environments are provided by DND/CAF to innovators to test their prototypes. In response to spe- cific challenges, IDEaS creates a physical space for innovators to demonstrate and test their prototypes as well as to receive feedback from defence and security ex- perts. The first Sandbox is expected to oc- cur in the fall 2019. Contests provide grants for the success- ful demonstration of promising solutions to a specific challenge. It is a competitive means of finding innovative solutions and awarding prizes to the best solutions. If an innovator is selected under the In- novation assessment and implementation element, they can have DND/CAF test and evaluate their solutions in a realistic test environment. The IDEaS program procures limited numbers of the innova- tive prototype for evaluation and provides feedback directly back to the innovators. Enablers for innovators The IDEaS program also developed a suite of tools to support innovators in re- alizing their innovation. Each of the three components looks at different ways to encourage success by providing access to Defence experts. Ideation brings together multi-disciplin- Photo: The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces.

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