“The best partnerships aren’t dependent on a mere common goal but on a shared path of equality, desire, and no small amount of passion.” Sarah MacLean
The Catalyst Accelerator team was thrilled to welcome the International Space Domain Awareness (SDA) cohort back to Catalyst Campus for week three of their Accelerator journey. Twelve subject matter experts donated their time to speak with the cohort this week. One of these experts included Joe Gerber, JCO Lead Integration, who provided a wonderful overview of the Joint Task Force Space Defense Commercial Ops (JCO) Core Academics. Afterwards, Joe led the cohort in participating in Dragon Army Ops Day.
On Wednesday, Lt Kerry Kearschner, United States Air Force Contracting Officer and Air Force Institute of Technology Education with Industry Fellow at Catalyst Campus, facilitated a Q&A session surrounding various United States contracting vehicles. He explained, “The Accelerator is an amazing program where industry, academia, and government intersect. It was an insightful experience to be able to talk with the cohort and the entrepreneurs that are tackling the challenge of Space Domain Awareness for the United States Space Force and its allies. I was able to learn a great deal from their experiences and business operations. Additionally, it is encouraging to see the growth in education and collaboration with industry, academia, and government. And now more than ever, all three entities need to work together to design minimal viable products to scale. The best way to accomplish this is continued partnerships, end-user development and agile acquisitions. My hope is that we can foster more partnerships with entrepreneurs here, abroad, and with our international allies to continue to build people-centered design to advance the Air and Space Force and our industry partners.”
The cohort then had the privilege to hear from Cynthia Bouthot and Miki Sode from Space Commerce Matters. They discussed the LEO state of affairs and met with each cohort company to help them make connections to their vast network. Cynthia expressed, “SCM enjoyed meeting the very impressive Catalyst Campus cohort companies. Conversations were very advanced and will definitely lead to increased global business. Congratulations to the Catalyst Accelerator for such a stellar group of companies and such an exceptional program of support.”
Later that evening, The Smalls Colorado and Colorado Space Business Roundtable co-hosted a Happy Hour event at Catalyst Campus. The theme of this event was based around Star Trek because September 8th is Star Trek Day! There were amazing decorations and drinks to match the theme.
The work week ended on a perfect note on Friday with the cohort participating in a group design sprint lead by Matt Denny. Everyone then headed up to Woodland Park, Colorado to enjoy a dinner at KiMar’s house. They then all met up for a fun team building day at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) on a very cold and rainy Saturday morning to watch the USAFA vs. University of Colorado football game!
Thank you to each of the subject matter experts who donated their time to speak with the International Space Domain Awareness cohort and answer their questions. The Catalyst Accelerator team is looking forward to what the next on-week has in store!
Author: Kate Menendez, Catalyst Accelerator Marketing Specialist
