MISI Changes Name to Technology Advancement Center to Reflect Evolving Mission and Value Offered to the Community

MISI is pleased to re-introduce itself with a new name: Technology Advancement Center (TAC). Under new branding, TAC will continue its work as a nonprofit focused on driving small business and academic engagement, STEM and workforce development opportunities, and proof of concept innovation. This brand transformation includes updated logos and renaming both of the nonprofit’s Defense Mission Accelerator facilities; with DreamPort now called TheLink, and MindScape now called DiscoveryX.

Over the last 12 months, it became clear that the covenants under which MISI was founded have expanded immensely. Our nation requires an outpost for government and industry to come together and develop cutting edge technology. TAC’s small business and academic ecosystem is uniquely positioned to contribute intellect, tactics, and techniques in support of advancing our nation’s defense and cybersecurity capabilities. TAC leadership is dedicated to evolving and meeting the challenge of protecting and defending our interests at home and abroad head-on.

TAC’s mission is to be a leading source of government-industry collaboration, bringing together commercial and non-commercial (both unclassified and classified) operations in a hands-on environment with the actual hardware and software that operates the world’s most critical infrastructures. Through diverse collaboration between some of the best innovative technology minds, including members of the United States Armed Forces, private companies, and academic institutions, TAC fosters the development of technology systems that will keep our citizens, country, and allied interests safe.

“TAC provides unmatched support to researchers, programs, organizations, and non-traditional companies and individuals who have the potential to address the technology needs of the United States and our allies,” said Gregg Smith, CEO, TAC. “This brand transformation marks a pivotal moment in our journey, representing our commitment to continue delivering the human resources, technological capabilities, and state of the art facilities that will enable technology advancements across a variety of methods. We are changing our name to adequately reflect our skill set and mission, and look forward to making additional impacts with the technology and government contracting community.”

Technology Advancement Center’s key initiatives include:

Small Business & Academic Engagement

• Engagement with researchers in higher education settings who are doing research in all areas of cybersecurity and defense innovation, for example, working on healthcare or railway security, communication, and satellite communication networks, etc. Finding those researchers, programs, and vendors working in academia will contribute to solving the U.S. Government’s biggest challenges. About 80% of the TAC ecosystem is represented by small business, with a reach of well over 100 academia and nontraditional communities supported.

STEM & Workforce Development

• Innovative solutions are needed to help solve the nation’s shortfall of skilled cybersecurity and IT professionals, and TAC firmly believes that initiatives that nurture the future workforce are critical. As such, TAC supports K-12 students, college and university ecosystems, and current members of the workforce through “cyberships” (internships through TAC) and apprenticeships, competitions designed for all skill levels like the “Hack the…” series, or Cyber Saturday and GenCyber type events hosted jointly at TAC facilities.

Proof of Concept Innovation

• TAC is honored to play a role in supporting local and national companies that are interested in bringing innovative, cutting-edge technology to the U.S. TAC works with non-traditional companies that have the potential to address the U.S. Department of Defense and other government cybersecurity and technology needs through rapid prototyping events (RPE), technical evaluations, and more.

Additionally, TheLink and DiscoveryX, TAC’s Cyber Mission Accelerator facilities, are home to event space that supports up to 750 people, serves as a fully operational studio for live streaming and other broadcast opportunities, and offers real world operational technology for training exercises and simulations such as Dream Valley.

Most recently, TAC hosted Hack the Railroad, a highly successful event that brought together the brightest minds in railway security to examine new paths forward for protecting one of world’s most critical infrastructures. Other ongoing opportunities for industry and government to connect include hosting job fairs and recurring networking events.

For more information about upcoming events, please visit thetac.tech.

About Technology Advancement Center

Technology Advancement Center (TAC), formerly MISI, is a cybersecurity nonprofit fueling the people and technology needed to solve critical cybersecurity challenges. The TAC’s three pillars of focus include: small business and academic engagement, STEM and workforce development, and proof of concept innovation. Through collaboration with small businesses, academic researchers, and non-traditional members of the cybersecurity community, TAC serves as an intermediary and helps connect U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) and the U.S. government to the innovative products and solutions needed to advance the nation’s cybersecurity capabilities.

The Technology Advancement Center runs programs out of two nationally acclaimed Defense Mission Accelerators with over 100,000 square feet of space that serve as non-government-owned or operated independent facilities to provide cyber national mission forces and partners with continuous innovation in cyber capabilities: TheLink and DiscoveryX.

Visit thetac.tech to learn more.

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