IDEaS That Work: DND/CAF’s Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program
DEFENCE INNOVATION
BY JAMES CARELESS
There is an abundance of technological challenges confronting the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) these days. To help solve them, DND/CAF launched the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) program. It is investing over $1billion in innovations for defence and security over 20 years. In other words, IDEaS is helping to fund ideas for solving DND/CAF’s technological challenges!
Philippe Hébert is the Director General of Research & Development (R&D) Innovation for Defence Research and Develocpment Canada (DRDC), and is responsible for leading the IDEaS program. In an in-depth interview with CDR, Hébert explained the roots of the IDEas program, the five funding elements that are available to innovators, and some of the solutions that exist thanks to IDEaS. For anyone involved in the defence and security industry, this is a program you need to know about.
THE IDEA BEIND IDEaS
The IDEaS program was created as a key part of DND/CAF’s Strong, Secure, Engaged
defence policy in 2017. It was a bold step towards the private sector for defence and security solutions.
“For many, many years, a lot of the innovation that served DND/CAF came out of government labs,” said Hébert. “However, over the last few decades, it’s become clear that most innovation — especially in some of the new technology areas — is coming out of the private sector and academia as well. In response to this trend, the IDEaS program was developed to take advantage of this reality, to make sure that we could find solutions for the CAF.”
WHERE THE CHALLENGES COME FROM
Since the IDEaS program was formulated to solve problems for the CAF particularly, the challenges that IDEaS poses to innovators come straight from the CAF.
“We always start with the CAF coming to us with a problem that they have and that they want to solve,” Hébert told CDR. “We do this in cooperation with our DRDC colleagues who provide evaluators and integrators to see how a solution could fit in the military. Still, at the end of the day, the CAF comes to us with a problem, we look at it, refine it a little bit, and then decide what the challenge to industry and academia will be.”
According to Philippe Hébert, the challenges that the CAF wants solved are wide-ranging and diverse. “For example, the Navy wanted a system that would allow them to detect marine mammals without having to use their sonar,” he said. “They also wanted someone to develop the capability to bring things to shore from the Arctic Offshore Patrol Vessel in the Arctic.”
So, who gets to see these challenges? “We have a distribution list of over 9,000 innovators that we contact with challenges,” Hébert replied. IDEaS also posts them on their website. They are listed under the heading, ‘Featured Opportunities’.
Featured opportunities are listed on IDEaS’
website home page. Examples of recent challenges calling for applications from innovators to have a chance at getting funding from IDEaS, include:.
Stay connected: Seamless transitions between mobile broadband networks (solutions for continuous and uninterrupted connectivity when moving between 4G and 5G mobile broadband networks).
Extended communication coverage: Exploiting connections of Earth and space systems (solutions that exploit non terrestrial networks/NTN to enhance network capabilities for operational support in domains of public safety and defence).
Don’t skip a beat: Medical diagnostics and sensing for combat operations (portable and deployable medical diagnostic equipment or medical decision support systems to help triage casualties in a combat environment).
Unmasking biothreats: Identifying biological agents in the field (solutions for the identification of potential biological agents to guide decision making around the safety of personnel and the public).
FIVE FUNDING ELEMENTS
In the real world, one size never fits all. This is why the IDEaS program offers five funding elements to innovators. They are: • Competitive Projects, providing up to $6.75 million in phased development funding to propel technology forward; • Innovation Networks, providing up to $3 million to stimulate the free flow of ideas critical for innovation; • Contests based on competition between innovators; • Sandboxes where IDEaS supplies the experts and innovators supply the technology; • Test Drives where DND/CAF takes innovators’ tech and tries it out in the real world.
Here is a breakdown of these funding elements, using content from the IDEaS website and insights provided by Philippe Hébert.
COMPETITIVE PROJECTS
Competitive Products provides innovators with “Up to $6.75 million in phased development funding to propel technology forward,” the IDEaS website says. “Innovative solutions from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 1 to 9 can be funded through a Competitive Projects challenge. Solutions can enter the continuum at any funding component based on their TRL.”
Time for some plain language: Technology readiness levels 1-9 are designed to describe where a solution stands in terms of its pre-commercial development. TRL 1 is the lowest level, where scientific research is starting to be translated into applied R&D. TRL 5 is attained when a solution’s basic components have been integrated for testing in a simulated environment. TRL 9 is when the technology is in its final form and ready to operate under real-life conditions, including tests and evaluations.
The available funding under this section is broken down into Component 1a (up to 6 months, up to $250,000, TRL 1-3); Component 1b (up to 12 months, up to $1.5 million, TRL 4-5); and Component 2 (no time limit, up to $5 million, TRL 6-9).
“Component 1a provides innovators the opportunity to ‘conceive’ their solution, explain how their solution will address the specific challenge, and validate that ‘conception’ is possible,” says the IDEaS website. “Component 1b will allow innovators to begin to ‘design’ their concepts. Component 2 furthers science and technology (S&T) efforts to help the progression of an innovator’s solution up to a potential of TRL 9.”
“Competitive Projects is the bread and butter of the IDEAS program where we put challenges out,” Hébert said. “Let’s say 10 of those solutions for about six months under Component 1a. After six months we will have a meeting with the stakeholders, with the integrator from DRDC having looked at those solutions and we will choose maybe two that will be provided further funding under Component 1b for about another year’s worth of work. Those that look promising by the end of that year will make it to Component 2 status, with the goal of full operational testing at TRL 9.”
INNOVATION NETWORKS
IDEaS’ Innovation Networks’ is meant to connect industry with academia in order to build ‘Micro-Networks’. The goal of this collaboration is “to advance solutions from Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) 1 to 6 inclusively, to solve a challenge faced by the DND/CAF, and/or its safety and security partners.” says the IDEaS website. “We support basic and applied research, technology development and knowledge transfer. Funding is through a non-repayable contribution, with up to $3M available per proposal, for up to 48 months.”
“The latest Micro-Networks we’ve established are dealing with quantum computing,” Hébert said. “Previously we founded Micro-Networks that dealt with 5G wireless technology and its implications for defence.”
Contests
IDEaS’ Contests is all about “pitting one solution against the other and finding out who’s best,” said Hébert. “There’s usually prizes there for the winners.”
Past IDEaS Contests included a competition for tools and measures to identify, assess and protect against attacks on NATO forces/allies in the cognitive domain ($25,000 won by Beam Me Up); developing forecasting models to assist DND/CAF in identifying potential flashpoints and emerging threats around the world (closed but in progress; $150,000 to first place, $75,000 to second place, and $50,000 to third place); and new technology to assist NORAD’s continental defence of North America (closed but in progress, the first round of grants is worth $19 million in total).
SANDBOXES
As the name suggests, IDEaS’ Sandboxes are an opportunity for industry to demonstrate and test their innovative technology in a military environment and in front of military stakeholders and other stakeholders,” Hébert said. “We had our first Sandbox in 2019, which was on counter drone systems, and we’ve done two more since then; all at CFB Suffield. I would say this is probably one of our big successes in terms of the IDEaS program.”
To be precise, 12 companies took part in the Counter Uncrewed Aerial Systems (CUAS) Sandbox 2019, which was staged at Alberta’s CFB Suffield September 12-October 7. Over a section of the base measuring 10 kilometers long by 2 kilometers deep, each team was given the chance to set up their counter drone systems fully. “Then our experts flew some micro and mini UAVs at them and they had to demonstrate that they could detect and defeat those drones,” said Hébert.
As for results? According to the IDEaS website, “The CUAS Sandbox was a great opportunity to gain a wealth of knowledge from both the innovator and DND/CAF perspectives, covering: the state of the art in CUAS, the state of the possible in CUAS, the specifics of multiple performance parameters, and the remaining areas of technical challenge. Throughout this month-long exercise, lessons learned and observations were reflected in the internal reports shared to DND/CAF and selected defence and security partners.”
TEST DRIVES
IDEaS’ Test Drives are ideal for innovators who are ready to put their products into the hands of DND/CAF testers. Recent challenges have included the ability to analyze the contents of full-motion video, attributing what is happening in cyberspace to specific sources, and the detection and identification of objects of interest.
“Test Drives takes your product through the final stage of the innovation journey towards commercialization,” the IDEaS website explains. “We acquire your solution so that DND/CAF can assess the readiness of your product in a real world environment for a military audience.” Funding is available in phases, with a total of up to $1.2 million per project.
“The Test Drives process applies to solutions that are at TRL 7 or higher,” said Hébert. “We acquire a few examples of a given solution and then we bring it to the military. These stakeholders can test it for one-two years and provide feedback to the innovator as to how to tailor it to a military environment — with the idea of bringing it to a state where it’s almost ready for commercialization and operationalization.”
SUBMITTING PROPOSALS
If there’s one thing this article proves about the IDEaS program, it’s that it is a great program for innovators to get involved in, both for the sake of their own businesses, and the successful operations of the Canadian Armed Forces.
So how do you manage to submit proposals to open challenges to IDEaS? “The best way is to subscribe to our e-newsletter,” Hébert replied. (It can be found online at www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/programs/defence-ideas/subscribe.html.)
“That’s where we keep people apprised of upcoming challenges, as well as program-specific news.
All told, DND/CAF will be providing a tremendous range of opportunities to those companies and academics who take part in the IDEaS program, with lots of challenges being launched in 2025 and beyond. “So if you’re in the Canadian defence and security industry, be sure to check on us,” concluded Hébert. “There’s a lot going on at IDEaS, and this is a great time to be involved on the innovation side of this industry.”
James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief
