Celerium’s Chief Strategy Officer, Vince Crisler, attended the NDIA Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference in Washington, D.C., where he connected with defense and industry leaders and heard firsthand about the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of national security. Below, Vince shares his key highlights and takeaways from the conference:
We are asking smaller companies to move faster, build more, and help solve some of our hardest national security problems. We also need to make it easier for them to survive while doing it.
That stayed with me throughout NDIA’s Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference.
From the classified day through the sessions in D.C., it was an honor to hear directly from the leaders and warfighters shaping what comes next. Staying close to their challenges matters. It gives the work we do a very clear purpose.
What struck me was how much the conversation has shifted toward speed. How quickly can we bring in a new supplier? Get capability into the field? Learn from its performance and improve it before the enemy adapts?
Large weapons programs will remain essential. Alongside them, we need specialized capabilities that solve specific problems well and improve quickly. That creates real opportunities for companies that have never been part of the defense industrial base.
The investor discussion added an important reality check. Capital is available, but enthusiasm will only carry this so far. Companies need contracts, revenue, and a reason to invest in production. A promising prototype doesn't pay for a factory. Procurement has to keep pace with the innovation it is asking for.
So does cybersecurity.
Walking the floor as a cybersecurity company, surrounded by manufacturers building some pretty incredible technology, reinforces exactly why we belong here. Those companies are building capabilities our nation needs. Protecting their work is our contribution to that mission.
Celerium has been protecting the defense industrial base since 2018. With Celerium’s DIB CyberDome™, we are applying those lessons to a community approach to defense: protection that can be deployed quickly, shared knowledge that helps companies defend together, and the ability to learn and adapt as threats change.
A small engineering team working toward its next delivery shouldn't have to build an entire security operation to protect its designs and keep its business running.
The Department of War needs these companies to focus on the mission. Our job is to help protect them while they do it.
Learn how Celerium’s DIB CyberDome™ helps defense contractors strengthen their cybersecurity while reducing the operational burden on their teams.
Ready to see it in action? Sign up for a 90-day Cyber Interceptor™ Assessment.
Learn more about DIB CyberDome™