The mission of DARPA’s Defense Science Office (DSO) is to identify and sponsor scientific discovery to fuel innovation in research and development for defense. DSO develops and executes an aggressive and forward-leaning portfolio that accelerates the development and maturation of scientific advances across a broad set of technical areas to create asymmetric advantage for U.S. National Security. DSO aims to create strategic surprise by pushing technology toward its fundamental scientific limits, thereby expanding the art of the possible. In addition, DSO looks for transformative trends at the global scale and their potential impact on our nation.

In pursuit of this mission, DSO will host a Pitch Day for engagement with prospective proposers and to catalyze future efforts in several Thrust Areas:

• Materials, Manufacturing, and Structures
• Sensing, Measuring, and Affecting
• Math, Computation, and Processing
• Complex, Dynamic, and Intelligent Systems

Each Thrust Area also includes a list of example research topics that highlight areas of interest specific to DSO Pitch Day. For details on submission instructions, eligibility, and descriptions of the Thrust Areas and example research topics please visit SAM.gov.

In order to be selected, proposals must investigate innovative new scientific or research approaches that enable revolutionary advances. DSO is explicitly not interested in approaches or technologies that primarily result in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice nor in projects that only require time and money to complete. This Program Announcement DARPA-PA-26-01 constitutes DSO’s Pitch Day solicitation.

The goals of the DSO Pitch Day are to: 1. fund proposals for targeted, short-term efforts with the potential to grow into groundbreaking new DARPA programs, and 2. employ an acquisition strategy to encourage participation by new and first-time or non-traditional proposers. This funding opportunity will aim to broaden DARPA’s reach with small businesses, educational institutions, and other non-traditional performers to break down barriers of entry for performers new to DARPA and the national security space.

To hear more about DSO Pitch Day and view the entire program announcement, please go this link