USGIF and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) co-hosted an inaugural GEOINT 2020 Innovation Tradecraft Competition on Feb. 4, at the Trajectory Event Center in Herndon, Va.

The first round featured 17 presentations demonstrating best practices in data discovery and alignment to address mission problems through visualization, discovering needles in needle stacks, data sharing, and interoperability. Participating organizations included AGI, Cesium, Deloitte, Esri, General Dynamics Mission Systems, HawkEye 360, L3Harris Technologies, Northrup Grumman, Omni Sci, Orbital Insight, Pixia, Presagis, Sandia National Laboratories, Skyris, and Tableau.

Each entry provided a five-minute presentation to an all-star panel of judges including Dr. Nadine Alameh, OGC; Terrence Busch, Defense Intelligence Agency; Robert Cardillo, The Cardillo Group and former director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; The Honorable Susan M. Gordon, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence; The Honorable Jeffrey K. Harris, USGIF Chairman of the Board; and Dr. Keith Littlefield, SAIC. Following each presentation, the judges provided feedback and asked questions for up to five minutes. All in all, it was a robust day of conversation.

“This competition was unique,” said Cardillo. “Stage presence and audience connection was required to quickly affirm the ‘So, what?’ Presenters had to align research insights into complex mission analytics in exactly five minutes. It was exciting for me to see the depth of talent and how my thinking can be positively influenced in a dynamic presentation.”

As a result of this first round competition, Cesium, Deloitte, HawkEye 360, and Sandia National Laboratories were selected as the four finalists, with Pixia and Presagis being the runners up. The finalists will present on the main stage at the GEOINT 2020 Symposium, April 26-29, at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla. Attendees will be able to vote live for the “GEOINT 2020 Innovative Tradecraft Champion.”

Additionally, the runners up, Pixia and Presagis, will present their work in the Innovation Corner in the GEOINT 2020 Exhibit Hall.