News Notes
The Office of the Secretary of Defense Chief Digital and AI Office, Defense Innovation Unit, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Army Pacific Command, and the U.S. Air Force will host a multi-classification hackathon open to all U.S. citizens, February 5-9, 2024.
A hackathon is an innovation event commonly employed by technology companies in which teams develop prototypes in response to enterprise challenges associated with data. The BRAVO 11 Bits2Effects hackathon will occur at one of the DOD AI Battle Labs on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
Any American citizen is eligible to apply, regardless of whether they currently work for the federal government or possess a security clearance. Applications – available online at Bravo.il2.afwerx.dso.mil – will be accepted on a rolling first-come-first-serve basis. Due to past events exceeding 400 participants, BRAVO has secured an over-flow room, although organizers still expect demand to exceed supply.
Attendees are not required to hold a security clearance. However, certain spaces, use-cases, and datasets may require a U.S. secret security clearance or higher. Applicants may apply as an employee for the U.S. government, a U.S. government contractor working on behalf of a federal contract, or as U.S. citizen either affiliated or unaffiliated with a company. Any U.S. federal employees or federal contractors are eligible to submit potential use-cases and proposed collaborations within the application process. Sourcing a use-case to these hackathons often results in an operational prototype and feedback for the sourcing organization.
Starting in 2021, the U.S. Air Force began organizing multi-service prototyping events, known as BRAVO hackathons, to expedite learning and capability development from classified and protected operational data.
Prior hackathons have produced prototypes influencing major Defense Department programs in areas including large language models, space launch, flight telemetry and biometrics, unmanned systems, personnel recovery, security classification, sensing and targeting, and battle damage assessment among others.
For more info, write to: saf.cn.bravo@us.af.mil.
