Hyperspace Challenge follows a unique model of in-person and virtual meetings. Teams are asked to commit three hours to meet virtually before the start of the program in a series of webinars with government innovators. These meetings help teams further understand agencies’ needs and determine how their technology can address these needs.
After the webinar series, teams should plan to spend approximately five hours to develop their accelerator application. Applications should explain how a company’s or research team’s technology can respond to specific mission needs.
If a team’s application is selected to participate in Hyperspace Accelerator Week, prepare to virtually attend three to four onboarding and educational webinars. Teams should also allow time to plan travel and logistics, and conduct further research into their responses to mission needs. Teams may also want to allow some time to research potential data sets that might help demonstrate technological capabilities during the Hyperspace Accelerator Week.
Yes, companies and organizations can partner with another company or organization.
Teams will be asked to select a ‘lead’ company. This company would the lead on any contract the organization would be pursuing moving forward.
Please note, revenue numbers are only required for the lead. If a team would like to include a collaborator’s revenue (which is optional), the appropriate place to do this is in the application section s for “Company Revenue Overall” and “Federal Government Revenue History.” Please keep revenues clearly designated to the appropriate company or organization.
We cannot guarantee that participants will secure contracts or undergo rapid acquisition with government agencies. However, we’re here to help facilitate the contracting process as new contracts are a primary goal of Hyperspace Challenge. We do know that many startups that have participated in our program have gone on to contract or have their technology purchased by government users they met during their respective program.
For startup / small business teams:
We recommend three roles from a company be present, dependent on the activity, to realize the full benefit of the interactions:- Business Development Lead (CEO for many startups)
- Technical Lead (CTO for many startups, understands overall capabilities of the company’s technology[ies])
- Product Lead / Developer (i.e. team member working under Technical Lead who is hands-on with the code)
For university teams:
We are interested and committed to building lasting relationships with universities. With that in mind, we do ask that teams have a faculty member committed to participating in the program. Beyond that, we are flexible with how a team is constituted. We do value creating opportunities for students at all levels (undergrad, graduate, and PhD), so if there aren’t any on the team, we’d appreciate learning if the team would be open to including them, and how a team would plan to accomplish that.Our program is dedicated to ‘customer discovery’, with potential government partners. As a university team, expect to participate in the webinars we host with startups about how to work with the government and identify opportunities. Teams will have a chance to meet one-on-one with potential government partners who are interested in working towards new solutions. We are also adding components to the program that are unique to what a university team is looking for, like grant resources and introductions to networks within the government dedicated to supporting research.
The time commitment is similar to that required for startups, but we do not expect the full university team to be present in every meeting. We do ask that universities work as a team and designate appropriate participants and team leaders.