Mass Innovation Bridge's Benway to Lead Discussion at June Defense Innovation Conference

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Jun 1, 2016) - Charlie Benway, the newly appointed director of the MITRE/Massachusetts Innovation Bridge, will lead a panel discussion at the June National Defense Industrial Association New England chapter conference, Advancing National Security Innovation: Fostering DoD/New England Industry Collaboration. The panel features speakers from Allied Minds, New Technology Ventures, Battelle Memorial Institute, MITRE and MIT Lincoln Laboratories.

The Massachusetts Innovation Bridge is a non profit organization, sponsored by MITRE and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, created in the public interest. It is designed to improve collaboration between non traditional innovators and federal agencies. Benway will moderate a session called "Spin In and Spin Out" - Challenges & Opportunities for Disruptive Technology Commercialization. The session will focus on best practices, challenges, and opportunities for national research laboratories and corporate/venture funds to partner to commercialize federally funded innovations. 

Benway says "The federal government recognizes that a great deal of innovation occurs outside their funding and procurement streams. They need a way to capture it and inject that innovation into their programs. We're adding venture capitalists to our conversation because they can help identify the right technologies and companies that are on the cutting edge."

The conference -- "Advancing National Security Innovation: Fostering DoD/New England Industry Collaboration" -- will be held Thursday, June 16 at the UMass/Lowell Inn and Conference Center. It will bring together U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), government agencies, defense contractors, research laboratories, academia, large industrials and small businesses. Also, the event features an evening networking session with separate pricing for small businesses and non traditional innovators.

For speaker updates and registration, visit the NDIA/NE website: www.ndianewengland.org.

NDIA New England is the regional arm of the National Defense Industrial Association (www.ndia.org), the nation's leading defense industry association in providing a forum for the exchange of information among industry, academia, the military and state and federal government on national security issues.

The MITRE Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that operates research and development centers sponsored by the federal government. Learn more about MITRE at www.mitre.org.