The AFWERX Fusion 2020 Showcase - building the Base of the Future - is now in the books and we want to share what a great experience Uprise Energy had sharing our Portable Wind Turbine with the US Air Force, the US Department of Defense, US Allied Forces from around the world and other innovative companies that were invited to the Showcase. If you didn’t catch our blog post leading up to the event, you may want to start there for more background.
The AFWERX Fusion 2020 Showcase took place this past Tuesday through Thursday (7/28 – 7/30). Uprise Energy, Co-founder & CEO, Jonathan Knight, participated in the virtual event from our office in San Diego.
The event
It was a new experience for Mr. Knight to attend a showcase virtually. He participated in panel discussions and private meetings via Zoom. He communicated with other vendors and event management via Slack. He had certain scheduled times he “manned” the virtual booth showcase to be available for event guests to speak with him. There were a few challenges, but overall it was a successful event.
The concept of the event is to provide companies who are using technology in new and innovative ways the opportunity to showcase their offerings to the US Air Force and Department of Defense, and highlight how they are able to contribute to the “Base of the Future.” This is an opportunity which is particularly exciting to us, as selling our product to the military is something that has been on our radar but remained a market we have not yet tapped into. This showcase allowed us to demonstrate our portable wind turbine to military decision makers and network with other companies which we would otherwise not have had contact.
The Base of the Future showcase was divided into six categories and Uprise Energy was included in the “Installation Resilience” track. It was a natural fit as our 10kW portable wind turbine is a clean power generator which can be set up and taken down in one hour by one person when needed. Being able to replace diesel generators in the field reduces cost, noise, and toxic emissions. Therefore providing unparalleled resiliency and redundancy to power systems and power grids, plus the ability for rapid deployment to emergency situations.
This was the video we provided as part of the selection process::
Solar power has strong representation in this category, but wind power seems to have been mostly ignored - until now.
Another benefit of participating in this event was that the screening process provided us with insight to the specific criteria required for a company to do business with the Air Force. It turns out that our Portable Wind Turbine naturally met the requirements in ways that other wind power generation companies do not have the technology to meet. Some examples include: being portable, the ability to operate in low wind conditions (our proprietary Dancing with the Wind technology), operating without creating noise and emissions, being able to be operated remotely, and flexibility - being able to tap into existing power grids or operate as a standalone generator.
Until this week, many of the people involved with building the Base of the Future did not know that our wind turbines existed.
Mr. Knight was fortunate to be selected to participate in the “Innovations in Power and Utility Resilience” panel on Tuesday, July 28th. Although virtual, there were still nearly 100 viewers “attending” the discussion via video conferencing. Many of the viewers reached out to Mr. Knight afterwards with questions, praises, and genuine interest in our wind turbine. Some servicemen even suggested applications we had not yet thought of ourselves.
Besides the potential for new sales opportunities, this event put a heavy focus on being able to network with other companies participating in the showcase. Mr. Knight had virtual meetings with several companies offering technology that is complementary to our own. In some cases, we learned about technology we did not even know existed. The connections we made have the potential to improve our company and increase the value that our Portable Wind Turbine offers to the Air Force.
Many companies submitted the application to participate in the AFWERX Fusion virtual showcase and few were chosen. It is an honor that we were selected, and we are grateful to the Air Force and the decision makers who selected us.