Join S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) September 14-17, 2021, from 12-4 p.m. ET each day for the inaugural SVIP Demo Week: a virtual showcase of 26 SVIP-funded startups and their projects supporting DHS components.
Register for SVIP Demo Week!
Virtual Demo Week Agenda At-a-Glance
September 14 | 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET
Theme: Aviation Security and Seamless Travel
Panel Topic: Innovation in Aviation
September 15 | 12:00 – 3:40 p.m. ET
Theme: Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology
Panel Topic: Choice and Global Interoperability
September 16 | 12:00 – 3:35 p.m. ET
Themes: Border & Maritime Security and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
Panel Topic: AI, Society's Collective Approach to Getting It Right
September 17 | 12:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET
Theme: COVID-19 Response & Future Pandemic Mitigation
Panel Topic: Global Perspectives on Pandemic Future Pandemic Proofing
September 14 | Aviation Security and Seamless Travel
12:00 p.m. ET | Aviation Security and Seamless Travel Demo Day Kickoff
Welcome and Introductions: Melissa Oh, SVIP Managing Director
Opening Remarks: Kathryn Coulter Mitchell, Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for Science and Technology
Keynote: John K. Tien, DHS Deputy Secretary
12:50 p.m. ET | Aviation Security and Seamless Travel Technology
SVIP Startup Demonstrations and Q&A
- iProov has been working with CBP to develop technology facilitating the self-service completion of checks by travelers when crossing land borders. Convenience and high performance must be delivered with the highest levels of security, integrated with CBP apps and systems.
- Kiana Analytics provides a video interview application that connects to CBP's biometric analysis. Adding Wi-Fi and video sensor data provides both remote interview capabilities and monitoring through a video interface from on-site cameras at the arrival port. This mobile application allows viewing and locating visitors when they arrive, requests CBP interview, and manages entry points remotely.
- CrowdVision is an expert in computer-vision-enabled measurement and analysis of human activity in airports and other crowded locations, and Copenhagen Optimization specializes in analyzing and planning airport operations on strategic, tactical, and operational levels. Together, they are combining their expertise to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of TSA operations with highly accurate, trusted data and data-optimized tools to provide decision makers in the field with live, accurate, trusted data for detailed awareness of passenger flow activity.
- Deep North has been working with TSA to apply artificial intelligence- and computer-vision-based solutions to increase security effectiveness at airports while reducing wait times to improve passenger experience in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and necessary social distancing requirements.
- Lauretta AI’s video analytics solution uses off-the-shelf closed-circuit TV cameras at screening stations to deter passengers from attempting to circumvent or evade airport security screening protocols and to identify passengers who may need assistance. Using privacy preserving technology, Lauretta’s system can provide personalized instructions to enable passengers to smoothly navigate a self-service screening process while limiting contact between TSA agents and passengers.
- Analytical AI has made and continues to make significant progress toward the goal of achieving rapid and accurate classification of Stream of Commerce items in passenger carry-on bags. Currently, Analytical AI is working on implementing and testing the algorithm on an OEM emulator and aims to have this adaptive algorithm model working in field testing and airport operations soon.
- Synthetik is extending their SynthetikAI platform to help TSA keep pace with the requirement for high-quality annotated data to train Automatic Threat Recognition models. This platform will include machine-assisted annotation, digital unpacking of existing bags, and digital repacking to generate completely new synthetic bags.
- Cignal's work to date with DHS demonstrated the ability to generate a diverse library of high-fidelity synthetic CT, or computed tomography, baggage data. Currently, Cignal is refining their algorithms to improve detection of improvised weapons, incendiaries, and explosives and developing tools to automatically create tampered versions of synthetic objects.
3:20 p.m. ET | Panel: Innovation in Aviation
The aviation industry is seeing many innovative disruptions from apps that will tell you which security gate line is shortest to facial scanners being used in place of boarding passes. This panel will discuss their views on top technology trends in the aviation sector but also in orthogonal sectors that could be leveraged to improve our travel experiences.
Moderator: Chris Runde, Director Corporate Strategy and Innovation, Ross & Baruzzini
Panelists:
- Amir Amidi; Managing Partner, Travel and Hospitality Center of Innovation at Plug and Play Tech Center
- Dan McCoy; Chief Innovation Officer, TSA
- Chris McLaughlin; EVP Operations, DFW Airport
4:00 p.m. ET | Adjourn Day One
Register for SVIP Demo Week!
September 15 | Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
12:00 p.m. ET | Blockchain and DLT Demo Day Kickoff
SVIP Welcome and Introductions: Anil John, SVIP Technical Director
Keynote: Tiana Laurence, General Partner Seed Catalyst, Author, and Founder
12:30 p.m. ET | Blockchain and DLT
Day Two SVIP Startup Demonstrations and Q&A
- Transmute's work to date with CBP and steel importers sought to tackle pervasive trade barriers, including fragmented paper-based processes, non-standard data formats, unknown upstream actors, and siloed technical systems. In its next phase, Transmute will equip CBP and other partner government agencies with actionable data sooner about in-bound steel products and
e-commerce shipments including standards-based “verifiable” trade data about businesses in the supply chain, product origins, and shipment documents. - Mavennet is developing a platform called Neoflow to trace Canada to U.S. cross-border movements of oil and gas. Digital credentials created by Neoflow will allow the industry to securely exchange pre-arrival data and share the intent to transit or import oil and gas products in real time.
- Mesur.io's Open Food Trust™ platform facilitates visibility into the food supply chain using open data standards, rather than proprietary data formats, without treating the farmer like a commodity. The platform brings traceability, field conditions, and food risks together in one place so that the farmer, food processors, and global leaders in food delivery can access their data, record the information they need, and share that data securely with appropriate regulatory agencies.
- Danube Tech is collaborating with other companies on implementing a digital version of the U.S. Permanent Resident Card, using modern decentralized identity technologies such as decentralized identifiers and verifiable credentials. Danube Tech is especially interested in interoperability to avoid vendor lock-in and to connect different use cases, industries, and jurisdictions.
- Digital Bazaar’s Interoperable Identity and Credential Life-cycle Management project is focusing on Red Teaming of the VeresTM decentralized identity ecosystem, including the VeresTM Issuer, Verifier, Wallet, and Veres One (a Decentralized Identifier Network), in preparation for production deployments to government and the private sector including citizenship and age verification use cases.
- Securekey is developing an interoperable system based on World Wide Consortium (W3C) standards that allows individuals to safely proof their identity to and exchange their identity attributes with various authorized organizations. The system provides a privacy enhanced data exchange with consented transactions by the user, a secure user agent, transaction auditing capabilities, and offers a standards-based interoperable implementation that supports integration with the competitive marketplace.
- Mattr is extending earlier work on appointment and visa credentials and digital vaccination certificates, now focusing on building generalized capabilities to support the issuance of “any type” of verifiable credentials in the context of the USCIS environment. MATTR's project focuses on inclusion of credentials in paper-based documents, privacy respecting feature sets, techniques to support notarization scenarios (including privacy masking), solutions for wallet authentication, and expression of assurance levels during credential presentation.
3:00 p.m. ET | Panel: Choice and Global Interoperability
Ensuring the availability of a global competitive marketplace of diverse and standards-based interoperable solutions are critical for both government and the private sector to deliver cost effective and innovative credentialing solutions that provide choice, personal control, security, and privacy. This panel will provide a global perspective on how World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards are being used in various contexts and the approaches being taken to ensure global, cross-border interoperability of solutions.
Moderator: Heather Vescent; Credential Community Group Co-Chair, W3C
Panelists:
- Tim Bouma; Senior Policy Analyst, Treasury Board Secretariat, Canadian Government
- Olivier Bringer; Head of Unit, Next Generation Internet, European Commission
- Anil John; DHS S&T SVIP Technical Director, U.S. Government
3:40 p.m. ET | Adjourn Day Two
Register for SVIP Demo Week!
September 16 | Border & Maritime Security and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)
12:00 p.m. ET| Border & Maritime Security and AI/ML Demo Day Kickoff
SVIP Welcome and Introductions: Ron McNeal, SVIP Transition Director
Keynote: Admiral Douglas Schofield, Assistant Commandant for Acquisition & Chief Acquisition Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
12:30 p.m. ET | Border & Maritime Security Technology
Day Three SVIP Startup Demonstrations and Q&A
- Planck Aerosystems has developed an autonomous, truck-based small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for U.S. Border Patrol agents, based on the Blue UAS hardware ecosystem. The system enables agents to launch, operate, and recover small UAS while maintaining mobility in the off-road environment; is able to be installed quickly into a variety of Border Patrol vehicles; and is fully compatible with ATAK.
- Echodyne Corporation created the Metamaterial Electronically Scanning Array (MESA) radar system. This system uses metamaterials—engineered, artificial materials with properties not found in nature—to build a new architecture for an all-electronic scanning radar system. Using metamaterials means MESA has significantly lower cost, size, weight and power-usage than other radar systems. These radars are being piloted with the potential of incorporation into border surveillance and counter-UAS programs.
- HaloLights' Canine Health Analytics Monitoring Platform records working K9s’ critical health and activity data; such as heart rate, temperature, humidity, and GPS, and stores and transmits that information to handler and medical staff. The goal of the technology is to provide handlers and medical professionals with a holistic view of the working canine’s health status in a user-friendly interface, ensuring the canine’s safety and wellbeing.
- Kenautics is building a Maritime Object Tracking Technology (MOTT) buoy system for the purpose of contraband interdiction at sea, as well as hazard, spill, or object marking. MOTT uses various sensors including Automatic Identification System transponders for localization and communication, radio beacon, strobes, and can operate in various overt and covert modes to enable the USCG and other agencies to achieve their homeland security and coastal maritime domain awareness missions.
- TranslateLive has created a two-sided military standard 810G mobile version of their Instant Language Assistant device to meet all of the U.S. Coast Guard's requirements: FirstNet ready and offers offline translation capabilities in over 120 languages; ideal for mission-critical situations; and certified for use in classified hazardous locations.
2:10 p.m. ET AI/ML Technology Technology
- Tamr’s entity resolution capabilities help to establish a holistic view of trade entities to help predict and identify threats and opportunities to best deliver consequences and facilitate compliant trade. CBP’s Office of Procurement will use Tamr’s data visualization and machine learning capabilities to identify opportunities for efficiencies and cost savings among CBP’s contracts.
- Bastille has a solution to detect and mitigate radio frequency (RF) and wireless threats. Critical infrastructure components increasingly use wireless and RF networking to transfer data and to connect to control consoles. Through their DHS project, Bastille has created a way for organizations to get comprehensive RF network traffic visibility so that they can detect and mitigate RF threats.
2:55 p.m. ET | Panel: AI, Society's Collective Approach to Getting it Right
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies are globally being sought by many across both government and the private sector. However, these technologies have raised many questions and concerns regarding proper and ethical uses, their maturity, and whether these technologies are being used appropriately in the many use cases under consideration. This panel will discuss all these areas from a variety of viewpoints with a goal of informing and educating both government and the tech community regarding tangible actions and approaches that should be considered now, so that the benefits of these solutions can be helpful to society.
Moderator: Greg Oslan, Strategic Advisor/Board Director/Investor/Former Commercial Executive for DIU and the Joint AI Center
Panelists:
- Justin Brookman; Director, Technology Policy, Consumer Reports
- Jon Callas; Director of Technology Projects, Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Lynn Parker Dupree; Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security
- Mark Weatherford; Chief Strategy Officer, National Cybersecurity Center
3:35 p.m. ET | Adjourn Day Three
Register for SVIP Demo Week!
September 17 | Covid-19 Response & Future Mitigation
12:00 p.m. ET | Covid-19 Response Demo Day Kickoff
SVIP Welcome and Introductions: Darryl Kramer, SVIP Associate Director
Keynote: Dr. Pritesh Gandhi, DHS Chief Medical Officer
12:30 p.m. ET | Covid-19 Response Technology Demonstrations
Day Four SVIP Startup Demonstrations and Q&A
- Mesur.io has adapted its Earthstream Platform to provide DHS and NBIC with quantitative data related to an outbreak or emergence of new or existing biological threats. The platform automatically identifies, extracts, and links case-related data with other relevant information, such as demographics and travel, for easy analysis and improved surveillance.
- Bloodstone Division's project proposes a new use for an existing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-approved active ingredient for use as an anti-viral, or virucide. The project will first seek to develop the data needed for this new use by assessing residual viricidal efficacy, along with the effectiveness of its application on personal protective equipment and surface cleaning use and as a hand sanitizer.
- Farmspace Systems' COVID Finder provides a unique, innovative Point-of-Passage portal designed to (1) capture an image of viral-laden aerosolized droplets in exhaled breath; (2) use AI-enabled software to identify viruses, based on a library of virus images that can be expanded as new threats emerge; and (3) employ ultraviolet light to disinfect the portal between occupants. All three tasks are projected to take 10 seconds per person, per screening portal, providing fast, accurate, non-invasive, entry/no entry decisions rapidly enough to meet mass screening requirements at airports, ports of entry, military installations, governmental buildings, and other public, transportation, entertainment, and commercial venues.
- AppCensus has a platform for analyzing the runtime behaviors of mobile apps and assessing their security and privacy risks at scale. They will adapt this platform to develop an on-demand, automated mobile app testing system to enhance the security and privacy testing of publicly available android and iOS digital contact tracing apps for the public, government and industry. In addition to the testing services, AppCensus will provide a free public microsite with results of the digital contact tracing app testing.
1:45 p.m. ET | Panel: Global Perspectives on Pandemic Future Proofing
As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries tackled this public health crisis in various ways, with different cultural and operational approaches. This panel will offer global perspectives of important considerations for planning for, addressing and mitigating future pandemics or health crises, and how lessons learned from today will inform tomorrow on a global, and perhaps collaborative level.
Moderator: Dr. Tod Companion, Program Manager Coordinator, DHS S&T
Panelists:
- Carol A. Cunningham, MD: State Medical Director for Ohio Department of Public Safety, Division of EMS
- Director Jinha Kim; Center for International Cooperation Policy, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning
- Mr. Chen Yeang Tat, Deputy Chief Executive (Operations), Home Team Science & Technology Agency, Singapore Government
- Professor Ian Town; Chief Science Advisor, New Zealand Ministry of Health
2:25 p.m. ET | Closing Remarks & Adjourn SVIP Virtual Demo Week
Register for SVIP Demo Week!
Contact Us
For more information or to be added to our mailing list, email dhs-silicon-valley@hq.dhs.gov