15 August 2024
The agenda for Resilience Conference is now live. We are thrilled at how this has come together, and grateful to all of our speakers and advisors for their support. We will be adding content in the coming weeks with some seriously exciting announcements still to come.
Over the course of two days, leading government officials, venture capitalists, and startup founders from across NATO and partner countries will discuss pivotal challenges facing western democracies. You’ll hear in-depth conversations on critical topics such as deploying quantum technologies, the evolving role of drones in modern warfare, the challenges of startups navigating the defense sector, and more.
You’ll also hear fireside conversations between General Sir Roly Walker, Chief of the General Staff of the British Army, and American Lt. General Scott Howell, now an advisor to VC firm General Catalyst; interviews with Clayton Williams, the MD of In-Q-Tel International, as they celebrate their 25th anniversary, and also Prof. Dame Fional Murray from MIT.
The second day of the conference continues with a slate of engaging content including Launch at Resilience Conference, where six early-stage companies will unveil innovative solutions in data security, robotics, visual intelligence and more. This showcase offers selected participants a platform to gain visibility, attract investment, and seek strategic partnerships to accelerate company growth and you’ll be able to get some quality time with them as they exhibit during the networking lunch.
Alongside the main room content, we are programming breakout sessions including workshops, roundtables and private briefings where attendees can go deep into a topic, and benefit from topic-specific networking in small, hyper-targeted groups.
Check out our main room agenda here and stay tuned for additional announcements on main room and breakout session content. Book your ticket soon to be a part of these conversations and gain access to this unique gathering of leaders in defence, security, innovation and investment.
New Speaker Announcements
H. E. Mr Viljar Lubi
Ambassador of Estonia to the United Kingdom
In 1999, Mr Lubi started working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was an Economic Adviser at the Estonian Embassy in London 2002-2006. After that, he worked as a Director of the General Affairs Division in the EU Department. In August 2009, Mr Lubi took up the position of Economic Adviser at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, DC. In 2011, he was seconded to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in Estonia. In 2013, Mr Lubi took up office in New Delhi as the first residing Estonian Ambassador to India. After 3 years, he served as a Vice Minister for Economic Development in Estonia. Since 2021, Mr Lubi has been the Ambassador of Estonia to the United Kingdom.
Jacqueline Tame
Operating Partner at Playground Global
Jacqueline is an Operating Partner at Playground Global, an early-stage, deep tech venture capital firm, where she is responsible for educating and advising Playground and its Portfolio Companies on international, national, and state government policy and helping craft strategies on non-dilutive funding pathways, dual-use market opportunities, and regulatory positioning. She also serves as a board member and the acting Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Defense Group, a 501C3 nonprofit seeking to align and connect the people, capital, and ideas that ensure allied democracies retain a durable techno-security advantage.
Prior to joining Playground, Jacqueline led Government Affairs at PsiQuantum - a PG Portfolio Company building the world's first useful, fault tolerant quantum computer. Before PsiQuantum, Jacqueline spent over fifteen years in the federal government, culminating her public service to date as the acting Deputy Director and Chief Performance Officer of the Department of Defense's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, where she founded and fielded GAMECHANGER - DoD's first AI-enabled policy/legal analytics platform.
Jacqueline began her career at the Central Intelligence Agency, leading a team of futures analysts to inform platform planning and acquisition. She then transitioned to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence where she led Intelligence Community policy planning.
Jacqueline went on to hold senior roles at the Defense Intelligence Agency in counterterrorism mission management and as the policy advisor to the Deputy Director, and chief of customer engagement. Following a decade of executive branch service, Jacqueline joined the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as a senior professional staff member, where she oversaw the defense intelligence portfolio, before returning to the Department of Defense to advise the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
and Security on enterprise modernization.
Robert Harper MBE
Founder and CEO at Rowden
After enlisting in the UK Armed Forces at the age of 16 as a Communications Systems Engineer, Rob quickly distinguished himself through service with the UK Airborne Forces and other specialised engineering units. It was during this period Rob observed a critical gap—one between the urgent needs of frontline operators, and the development and delivery of the critical information technologies they depend on. This gap became the impetus for Rowden.
Operating from 10,000 sq. engineering facilities in Bristol, steeped in history as the birthplace of Concorde, Rowden seeks to set a new benchmark in government technology provision. Their approach is marked by hyper-efficient engineering approaches, better customer relationships, and faster assimilation of commercial technology to meet evolving user needs.
Under Rob’s leadership, Rowden has grown from a bootstrapped startup to one of the UK’s fastest-growing businesses. Their involvement in key capability modernisation efforts, including their role as System Integrator for the British Army’s Human Machine Teaming project, underscores their commitment to leveraging advancements in machine learning, edge networking, and cloud computing.
Rob is a strong advocate for a collaborative ecosystem where mid-market companies like Rowden don’t just succeed—they uplift and empower the next generation of startups. Rowden is poised to support this new wave, helping to build a future where governments and their allies can depend on a more agile, responsive, and capable industry.
Takeaways from the Portugal DefenceTech Meetup
A part of our ongoing series profiling the universe of startup, security, and defence events, Resilience Conference is pleased to share findings from the recent DefenceTech Meetup in Lisbon. If you are holding a meetup focused on defence and security startups, get in touch with our team. Ecosystem convenors can be invited to Resilience Conference and added to our ecosystem Signal group.
This past June in Lisbon, the first Portugal DefenceTech Meetup convened founders, investors, and government officials from Portugal and the rest of Europe. We watched with interest as the event underscored the influence that defence tech innovations have in both the public and private sphere, with a specific emphasis on counter-drone measures and the impact of drones in conflict zones.
Organisers and friends of Resilience Conference, Andre Marquez and Gregor Maes published a review of the event, which we encourage you to read here.
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