Five high tech start-ups from the Canberra Innovation ecosystem had the opportunity to pitch to executives from Leidos as part of the Global Supply Chain Program on 3^rd of October 2019.

The Global Supply Chain Program managed by the Centre of Defence Industry Capability, helps identify opportunities for Australian companies to grow the number and range of export opportunities as well as being an important step for growing Australia’s Defence industry capability.

The highly experienced Leidos panel comprised of:

• Murray Bruce, Director, SET, Leidos Australia
• Jack Walker, Industry Development Manager, Leidos Australia
• Joshua Icore, Business Development Manager / GSC Program, Leidos US
• Gemma Harvey, Capture Manager, Leidos Australia

Skykraft, which was spun out of UNSW-Canberra to commercialise their space engineering capability, kicked off the presentations. They have built a cube-sat and are working on an air traffic management system. Skykraft is also a member of The Canberra Innovation Networks KILN Incubator Program that helps high growth potential start-ups and SMEs, and have recently received a grant of $1million from the ACT Government’s Priority Investment Program.

Liquid Instruments presented their MOKU:LAB – a flexible hardware platform with twelve powerful instruments like the oscilloscope and phasemeter. It redefines the way engineers, scientists and students acquire data, run measurements, and control their experiments. New instruments can be added to MOKU:LAB via software upgrades. It uses beautiful and intuitive interface that is mobile within the lab as it presents the measurements and data on a tablet.

Instaclustr gave a talk on their Managed Platform that can integrate and manage open source as a service. As a quarter of the world’s population uses open source, the biggest risk becomes complexity as you grow. Instaclustr’s platform delivers endless opportunities to help you scale and achieve reliability and performance. In 2018 they completed an investment round of $20 million and current clientele include Verizon, PayPal and Adobe.

Space Services Australia presented on their offering which is a suite of system-level test benches ranging from pure simulations to artificially simulating a physical satellite by mocking the space environment. Current methods do not test for the software or the power aspects that could potentially brick the spacecraft. Currently, 40% of spacecraft launched fail within the first 12 months. By testing with Space Services Australia on the ground, operators have the confidence their spacecraft will work in space. Space Services Australia have completed the CSIRO On Prime program which is facilitated by the Canberra Innovation Network in the ACT region.

Nomad Atomics are working on Quantum sensors for precision measurement. Measuring the minute variations of Earth’s gravitational field is a unique, non-invasive and cost-effective way to collect information that is bias free. A sensor of this type offers vast potential for mineral, water and hydrocarbon exploration and earth sciences, and opens new markets in reservoir and CO2 deposit monitoring as well as GPS-denied navigation.

It was a fantastic opportunity for innovative local Canberra companies to showcase what they’re working on to make an impact. It was also an opportunity for the companies to hear about what global corporate buyers are looking for in a product and in a partner company.

Many in attendance commented that Canberra is punching well above its weight in the innovation space, with a panel member stating that the pitches were fantastic and presented by some very smart people.

“It was great to meet the Leidos team and other Canberra based STEM businesses that are all creating world class capabilities right here in the ACT,” said James Prior, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Skykraft.

Canberra Innovation Network delivers programs and support to founders of startup companies who have the passion and purpose to change the world.

If you are interested in opportunities like the one with Leidos, book an intro meeting with our Growth team. They will work with you to determine the right support and opportunity we will be able to provide.