Desafío Avante 3 will address maritime situational awareness challenges for the Chilean Navy

The two winning teams will receive CLP 90 million to implement a work plan to scale their MVP.

Source: Infodefensa

On Friday, October 14, at the Innovapolinav 2022 Public Innovation Meeting of the Naval Polytechnic Academy (Apolinav), the Chilean Navy (Armada de Chile) and Know Hub launched the third edition of Desafío Avante, which will focus on maritime situational awareness and active health.

Avante is an open innovation initiative focused on solving the institution’s problems through science-based startups (EBCTs) that also have potential civil applications, thereby strengthening the national research, development and innovation ecosystem.

According to the Chilean Navy, the challenges posed in Avante 3 were identified through the joint work of the Naval Health Directorate (Direcsan), the Navy’s Directorate of Programs, Research and Development (Diproda) and Apolinav.

Maritime Situational Awareness

The Chilean Navy must have the capabilities to monitor, control, warn of and respond to any activity that could affect sovereignty, protection, security, the economy and the environment in the area of national responsibility, which means having effective knowledge of everything related to the maritime domain.

To detect ships or surface contacts, its main sensor is radar, which can detect contacts within a radius of approximately 40 km. However, like optronic systems, it is not always effective due to atmospheric conditions, sea state, and the distance and size of the contact.

If the ship’s sensors cannot identify a contact, a helicopter must be deployed from the ship. While effective, it is not always available. It also has a high operating cost and, when investigating a hostile contact, puts the safety of its crew at risk.

In this case, the challenge will focus on providing ships with a low-cost, easy-to-operate capability for advanced observation and identification of contacts over land or sea, able to investigate, locate, track, identify and securely transmit information about the surface contact at a deployment distance of 40 kilometers from the unit.

The technological solution must fully or partially support various applications within the institution’s tasks, such as search and rescue (SAR), natural disaster support, maritime security, advanced observation, coastal and ocean patrol, tactical reconnaissance, law enforcement, target identification, environmental monitoring and engagement of surface units, among others.

Active health

The other strategic challenge of Desafío Avante 3 will focus on modernizing the institution’s preventive medicine model based on data, in order to provide the Navy with physically and psychologically healthy personnel to carry out the tasks and missions entrusted by the State.

To this end, the Chilean Navy has defined health data capture, the definition of risk indices and dynamic scheduling of medical care as priority areas.

Teams may present technological solutions that solve one or more problems, taking into account the information that will be gathered and validated with the methodology taught during Desafío Avante 3.

Application deadline: January 30, 2023

Teams registering for Desafío Avante 3 must respond to one of the challenges defined by the Navy and be at a development stage equivalent to TRL3. Each team will have at least three members who, upon applying, accept the program’s terms and conditions and commit to taking part in its activities.

Proposals not legally incorporated as a company in Chile must incorporate in the country. Applicant ventures legally incorporated in Chile may not be more than five years old, counting from the issuance of their first invoice or equivalent. Winning ventures from previous editions may not apply to Desafío Avante 3.

Applications will be open from October 14, 2022 at 18:00:00 until January 30, 2023 at 23:59:59. In a first stage, eight teams will be preselected and will receive training in Know Hub Chile’s Dual Tech methodology.

This methodology aims to support and accelerate the development and implementation of solutions that not only meet the Navy’s specific needs in Avante 3, but also contribute to scientific and technological development with applications beyond defense.

After a selection pitch before a panel of experts, up to four teams will be selected, each receiving up to CLP 2 million in funding to develop its Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

The teams will present again before a panel of experts to choose the two winners, who will receive a total of CLP 90 million. These resources will be used to implement a work plan to scale the MVP and bring the technology closer to its dual market.