Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium launches inaugural ‘UTIC Challenge’ in AUKUS Countries

The Rhode Island-based Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium (UTIC) has announced the first UTIC Challenge. The inaugural challenge calls on academic institutions in the three AUKUS countries – Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States – to propose innovative workforce development strategies in the undersea technology sector/field.

The challenge is designed to promote continued collaboration among the three AUKUS partners. The AUKUS agreement promotes information and technology sharing and fosters integration of related undersea technology science and technology, industrial bases, and supply chains.

UTIC brings together over 300 member organizations across 34 American states. It is a collaborative consortium dedicated to accelerating maritime and undersea technology innovation, research, and future workforce development.

“The partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States is an opportunity to share both physical resources and intellectual capital to improve security and trilateral ties. Maintaining long- term growth and innovation within AUKUS will require developing the future workforce. Industry and academia will need to partner to build a solid foundation for the next generation of innovators and manufacturers,” stated US Senator Jack Reed, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Participating teams will choose one of two categories for their response to the inaugural challenge. Based on their choice, teams will submit a position paper outlining their approach and strategy. The two categories are:

1. Strengthening the training environment for current/future technologists who develop critical undersea technology.
2. Strengthening the training environment for manufacturing professionals who build and support undersea technology applications.

UTIC will choose at least one winning team per category. Each winning team will receive a US$15,000 award to be used for related scholarships or similar academic program investments, and their submission will be published and recognized on underseatech.org.

“UTIC looks forward to collaborating with academic innovators to foster sustainable growth in the undersea technology workforce. AUKUS countries continually cultivate forward thinking, creative maritime defense professionals, and the goal of the UTIC Challenge is to expand upon this tradition,” said Molly Donohue Magee, UTIC executive director.

Timing for the challenge is:

• Launch and Expressions of Interest – September 2023
• Questions and Answers/ Submissions – October – December 2023 Judging – December 2023 – January 2024
• Winner Notification – February – March 2024

For more information about the UTIC Challenge program, please visit Underseatech.org/challenge, or contact UTIC at undersea@underseatech.org