At the 2025 AFCEA Lexington Concord Chapter’s New Horizons Conference, MassRobotics provided a thought-provoking session that turned the spotlight on the critical challenge of finding and funding innovative technologies with dual-use potential. While previous sessions had explored updates from the Administration, defense initiatives, opportunities from the Program Executive Offices (PEOs) and AI’s transformative role in military capabilities, this session shifted focus to the often-overlooked aspect of innovation—turning cutting-edge commercial technologies into valuable assets for national defense.

Moderated by Joyce Sidopoulos, Co-Founder of MassRobotics, the session featured two key organizations known for scouting and funding technologies with both commercial and defense applications: the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and J2 Ventures. Dr. John Griffen, Government Engagement Lead for DIU’s Autonomy Portfolio, and Jon Bronson, founder of J2 Ventures, alongside Matt Goldman, General Partner at J2, offered invaluable insights into the process of identifying promising innovations and the funding mechanisms that support them.

The session highlighted how technologies originally developed for the commercial sector can be leveraged for defense, making a real impact on the Department of Defense’s mission to provide cutting-edge solutions to warfighters. The goal is to bridge the gap between startup-driven innovation and the challenges faced by the Department of Defense, ensuring new technologies reach the field where they are most needed.

Following these presentations, ten innovative startups from the MassRobotics’ tech ecosystem took the stage to pitch their solutions. As the largest independent robotics hub, MassRobotics is dedicated to accelerating the development and adoption of robotics and physical AI technologies, providing entrepreneurs with the workspace, resources, and connections to scale their solutions globally. This was one of those opportunities for the startups to share their technology with a defense focused audience of leaders and end users.

The companies that pitched their innovations at the event included:

These startups represent the cutting edge of robotics innovation, ranging from drone technologies to powered footwear solutions aimed at enhancing mobility for military personnel. After the pitches, the audience had the opportunity to vote for their favorite innovation using a voting app.

And the winner of the 2025 AFCEA Trailblazer Award (that included $5000) was Dephy, a company born in 2016 as a spin-off from the MIT Media Lab. Dephy is focused on empowering individuals by integrating powered systems with footwear and apparel. Their work is especially impactful in extreme military conditions, where mobility is a critical challenge. By partnering with over 20 global research institutions, Dephy is pushing the boundaries of human mobility, improving lives, and enabling military members and medical patients to go farther on their own two feet.

The session was followed by a networking opportunity for the startups to speak more about their technologies with the attendees and potential customers.  This event showcased MassRobotics’ commitment to connecting the defense sector with innovative startups, ensuring that new technologies are not only developed but are deployed where they are needed most.