Southern California is home to large parts of the Defense, Space and Aerospace industries.  It has seen startup companies like SpaceX and Relativity Space go from small startups to major Defense players. 

The landscape for building startup companies in the Defense market has changed for Investors, the Government buyers, and new pool of serial Defense entrepreneurs.  Companies like Anduril and Palantir have shown startups with traditional equity funding paths can scale and sell products directly to DoD. 

Our speakers will look at the new landscape and the opportunities it has created for entrepreneurs. This program will provide researchers and entrepreneurs with insights for navigating among the Government and Prime Contractor gatekeepers in commercial efforts. Join us to hear advice from expert speakers from the Department of Defense, industry insiders and entrepreneurial startups. After the panel discussion there will be audience Q&A along with plenty of networking.

Keynote Speaker:

Christopher Zember, Ph.D.

Senior Advisor and Portfolio Manager

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy

Producers:

Lynn Foster

Co-Founder & CEO

Z-Field Technologies LLC.

Scott Sugino

Corporate Partner

O’Melveny