Defence Innovation Hub team members will engage with key stakeholders at this month’s Indo Pacific Maritime Expo in Sydney.
The international event brings military, academic, and industry delegates together for demonstrations and discussions about the future of maritime development.
The hub team will celebrate the success of partners such as Sentient Vision Systems, which was awarded the Indo Pacific 2022 SME Innovation Award.
Sentient Vision Systems won the prize for its ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) Optical Radar Pod, which can assist maritime search and surveillance operations from helicopters. Sentient has been working with the Defence Innovation Hub to advance its ViDAR optical radar technology since 2018, and was recently awarded a $1.74 million contract to further enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of its technology.
Assistant Secretary Defence Capability and Innovation, Andrew Hodgkinson, said Defence Innovation Hub investments into companies such as Sentient Vision Systems were driving the development of cutting-edge technologies to enhance future ADF capability.
“Since the Defence Innovation Hub began operations in 2016, many technologies developed under its banner have either resulted in a contract with a Defence acquisition program, been employed in Defence training exercises, or are undergoing final stages of testing and evaluation,’ Mr Hodgkinson said.
“Innovation is key to Defence meeting the challenges of the changing strategic environment, and potential acquisition pathways are considered as an integral part of the evaluation process for every Defence Innovation Hub proposal.”