DARPA Discover DSO Day (D3)
 

Special Notice

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is sponsoring an event (D3) to (1) familiarize attendees with DSO’s mission and the nature of the efforts we support; (2) promote understanding of how to do business with DSO and (3) facilitate discussions with potential performers. The event is scheduled for Thursday, June 15, 2017 at the DoubleTree Crystal City (300 Army Navy Drive Arlington, VA 22202); selected sessions will be webcast for those who would like to participate remotely. Advance registration is required for attending the event in person or for viewing the webcast.

The objective of D3

The mission of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is to identify and pursue high-risk, high-payoff research initiatives with the objective to prevent and create scientific and technical surprise. DSO leverages the talent of Program Managers to identify these initiatives and develop them into programs. Without the ideas and contributions of future performers, these yet to be formed programs cannot succeed. D3 seeks to nurture new performer relationships and to reinforce old relationships by sharing developing concepts with potential proposers. DSO Program Managers have started to develop program concepts in the following areas and plan to discuss as many as time permits during D3.

Complexity Engineering: Understanding the principles of organization and control, the transformation or harnessing of complexity, and the implications of such methods. Topics of interest relate to (1) complex sensing networks to protect city and metropolitan areas from chemical and biological threats and (2) new concepts in war-gaming and conflict simulation.

Science of Design: The study of processes and methods of design, i.e., ways in which we transform a given state of the world into a better one using tools and technologies. Topics of interest relate to (1) the creation of novel optics with metamaterials; (2) strategies for building cameras that can capture more photonic degrees of freedom; (3) digital representations of engineering information that can anticipate failure, evolve, and merge with other designs; and (4) mathematical optimization and its use in design.

Noosphere: Create, measure, and model foundational questions regarding humans, human-machine interactions, and society For example, are there new approaches to ‘computation’ based on human or animal social or cognitive processes and how might we understand them? We are also discussing how human perception might be a tool in modern conflict resolution.

Fundamental Limits: Create, measure, and model foundational questions of nature. We anticipate that example topics will emphasize the study of fundamental limits in natural, physical, mathematical and computational sciences using rigorous and reproducible, hypothesis-driven, scientific methods.

For a conceptual framework with which to consider this topic, see “The architecture of complexity,” HA Simon, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 106 (6), 467-482 (1962).
For a conceptual framework with which to consider this topic, see Chapter 5 of “The Sciences of the Artificial”, HA Simon, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (1981).
For a conceptual framework with which to consider this topic, see Chapter 2 of “The Emergence of Noopolitik: Toward An American Information Strategy,” Arquilla, John and David Ronfeldt. RAND Corporation, 1999. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1033.html.

D3 comprises the following four types of sessions: (1) DARPA University, (2) Technical Short Courses, (3) “Sidebar” Discussions with Program Managers, and (4) Potential Proposers’ Poster Session.

DARPA University and Technical Short Courses
The DARPA University session is designed to provide those new to DARPA a clear set of directions regarding how to work with us. DARPA University will cover topics ranging from DARPA’s organization to navigating the DoD proposal process. The Technical Short Courses will enable Program Managers to describe their current thinking and allow the audience to offer their insights.

The registration website will ask registrants to select those sessions in which they wish to participate. Every effort will be made to accommodate as many sessions of interest as possible.

Sidebar Discussions with Program Managers
Special Notice DARPA-SN-17-29 announced opportunities for D3 attendees to meet with DSO Program Managers. The Sidebar Discussions with Program Managers is a by-invitation-only session where individuals whose executive summaries were selected under DARPA-SN-17-29 will discuss their ideas with a Program Manager. DARPA-SN-17-29 has closed, and recipients of sidebar meetings have been notified; no additional sidebars will be scheduled during D3.

Potential Proposers’ Poster Session
The Potential Proposers’ Poster Session will be held to encourage networking and sharing of ideas by enabling selected attendees to present their unique capabilities to the DSO community.

The registration website will ask registrants whether they would like to present a poster and, if so, to provide a description of the poster. Notification of poster acceptance will be emailed to the selected registrants by June 2, 2017.

Tentative Agenda

Note, all times listed in this announcement and on the registration website are Eastern Time.

Thursday, June 15, 2017
DARPA University and Technical Short Courses 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
PM Sidebar Discussions 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

7:30 am - 8:30 amCheck-In
8:30 am - 9:00 amWelcome/Intro
9:00 am - 10:00 amDARPA 101: Engaging DARPA
9:00 am - 10:30 amFrom Quantum to Classical Electromagnetic Interactions and Matter
9:00 am - 10:30 amSystems, People and Automation
10:00 am - 11:00 amDARPA 102: Working with Universities
10:30 am - 12:00 pmFrom Quantum to Classical Electromagnetic Interactions and Matter
10:30 am - 12:00 pmDesign, Geometry and Optimization
11:00 am - 12:00 pmDARPA 103: Doing Business with DARPA
12:00 pm - 1:00 pmWorking Lunch: "Science - is it time to redefine the endless frontier?"
1:00 pm - 2:00 pmDARPA 102: Working with Universities
1:00 pm - 2:30 pmSensing
1:00 pm - 2:30 pmAutomating Discovery in the Physical Sciences
2:00 pm - 3:00 pmDARPA 101: Engaging DARPA
2:30 pm - 4:00 pmFrom Quantum to Classical Electromagnetic Interactions and Matter
2:30 pm - 4:00 pmHuman Social and Behavioral Variability
3:00 pm - 4:00 pmDARPA 201: How Programs Are Developed
5:00 pm - 7:00 pmPoster Session/Reception

Registration Information

Advance registration via the below website is required for attending the D3 event in person and for receiving access to the webcast. The advance registration requirement applies to every individual intending to view the webcast—either alone or as part of a group. There will be no on‐site registration.

• Registration website: http://events.sa-meetings.com/2017DiscoverDSODay
• Registration opens: Monday, May 1, 2017 at 12:00 PM
• Registration closes: At 5:00 PM on the date listed below or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first.
o In-person attendance: Friday, May 19, 2017
o Webcast: Thursday, June 8, 2017
• Registration Fee: If registering to attend the event in person, there is a registration fee of $35 or $75, dependent on registrant type (details provided on the registration website). There is no fee for registering to view the webcast.

Due to the limitations of the conference facility space, in-person attendance is restricted to the first 300 registrants with a maximum of 5 individuals from any one organization and no more than 2 representatives per division/department of that organization. Interested parties are encouraged to coordinate attendance internally within their organizations prior to registration.

Registrants in excess of the maximum capacity limitations (300 for in-person attendance and 500 for the webcast) will be added to a waitlist. Individuals who are unable to register for in-person attendance because the deadline has occurred or capacity has been reached will have the option of choosing to be added to the waitlist OR registering to view the webcast sessions. If slots for in-person attendance become available due to cancellations, the slots will be filled on a first come, first served basis from the waitlist. Registrants will receive notification regarding acceptance for in-person attendance on or before Thursday, June 8, 2017. Registrants for the webcast will receive confirmation upon completing registration on the website.

Contact Information

Eligibility, Disclaimers and Important Notes

DARPA hosts events such as this to promote teaming arrangements between researchers; provide potential proposers with information on whether and how they might respond to the Government’s research and development solicitations; and to increase efficiency in proposal preparation and evaluation. Potential proposers must register for the Discover DSO Day event; registration is open to individuals who are U.S. Citizens, U.S. Permanent Residents, and Foreign Nationals. Upon entry to the in person event, all attendees will be required to present valid, Government-issued photo identification. Media inquiries may be directed to Outreach@darpa.mil.

Attendance at the D3 event or viewing the webcast is voluntary and is not required to propose to any DSO BAA. This announcement is issued solely for informational purposes and does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. It is not a Request for Information (RFI); therefore, no submissions against this notice will be accepted by the Government. Interested parties are cautioned that nothing herein obligates the Government to issue a solicitation. No classified or ITAR-controlled information shall be included in submitted materials or shall be presented or discussed at D3; any proprietary information presented by attendees must be clearly marked as such. DARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this event. Recording any part of the D3 event is not permitted.