The Defence Research and Development Canada has released the accumulated community feedback from the Innovation Call For Proposals 2019 Request for Information (RFI) ahead of the upcoming call for proposals.

According to the DRDC, 60 organizations participated in the RFI including 32 organizations which had one-on-one meetings, 17 organizations received a written opinion and 11 organizations provided general feedback only. They also noted that the “engagement process is not a pre-qualification to submitting a proposal for the upcoming CFP.”

The RFI identified 16 Science and Technology (S&T) Challenges in which innovative solutions are sought in two streams:

Stream A: Public Safety and Security: Smart Communities and Systems – DRDC is looking for novel ideas and innovative solutions to resolve public safety and security S&T challenges under the following 3 themes: Mitigating the Safety and Security Impact of Climate Change, National Security Risks, and Protecting and Connecting Safety and Security Professionals. Stream A is primarily in support of Canada’s resilience through Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP) S&T investments. The CSSP mission is to strengthen Canada’s ability to anticipate, prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters, serious accidents, and crime and terrorism through the convergence of S&T with policy, operations, and intelligence.
Stream B: Support to Canada’s Defence Policy “Strong, Secure, Engaged” – One of the initiatives of Canada’s Defence Policy “Strong, Secure, Engaged” is to acquire space capabilities to improve situational awareness and targeting, including the replacement of the current RADARSAT systems to improve the identification and tracking of threats and improve situational awareness of routine traffic in and through Canadian territory, as well as in other areas of interest around the world. Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) S&T within the Department of National Defence (DND) has a program focused on conducting cutting-edge research and development (R&D) on space-based earth observation technologies in collaboration with allies, industry, and academia to maintain, enhance, and replace situational awareness capabilities for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). This program provides advice and recommendations to DND stakeholders concerning viable and cost-effective solutions that are available, or will be available in the near future, and that could be considered in upcoming options analysis phases of space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) projects.

You can read or download the Summary of Feedback and Outcomes Request for Information No. W7714-19DRDC Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) Innovation Call For Proposals (CFP) document below.