Addressing AGO capability challenges through a small number of short-term industry projects, with a focus on machine learning and analytics for producing automated imagery analysis.
The Challenge
The Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO) often deals with sensitive and classified problems, limiting its ability to engage a broader pool of skills and capabilities available from companies and professionals in the Australian market. This often made it challenging for AGO to work with new organisations, and particularly with small to medium enterprises who have had no previous track record of working with Defence. The AGO was keen to attract a wider pool of companies and technologies to draw on for automated geospatial intelligence. The primary focus of the program was to address AGO capability challenges through a small number of short-term industry projects, with a focus on machine learning and analytics for automated imagery analysis.
Partners
In 2019, the AGO approached FrontierSI with this challenge. FrontierSI proposed a collaborative, practical Analytics Labs Innovation Program (AGO Labs) to solve these challenges. The approach was for FrontierSI to work with AGO stakeholders to identify and articulate three geospatial challenges common to Defence, which could be generalised and made available in an unclassified way. These challenges were then released in an open call to Australian private industry and universities, and companies were invited to submit innovative approaches to solve these challenges. Following the success of the pilot, AGO Labs expanded into three further rounds between 2020 and 2024, supporting a total of 14 demonstrator projects.
The Solution
The FrontierSI model for designing and scaling an incubation program has been adapted from the international standard developed by the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability (2005). The four-step process is structured to ensure a systematic approach to engagement and innovation. The process is a dynamic and ongoing cycle that supports comprehensive engagement and builds an evidence-based platform for continuous improvement of the AGO Analytics Lab program.
AGO Labs was designed as a short-term, industry-led innovation program to test new approaches for automated geospatial intelligence. Projects ran over six months and addressed real but declassified geospatial challenges, with a strong focus on machine learning and analytics.
FrontierSI’s key responsibilities included:
- Problem Definition: Translating AGO’s internal capability needs into well-defined, unclassified challenge statements suitable for external innovation.
- Program Launch and Market Awareness: Promoting AGO Labs through events, digital channels, and webinars with AGO sponsors to engage industry and universities.
- Proposal Assessment: Assessing 93 submissions across 12 challenge topics through a structured, criteria-based review process.
- Program Management: Contracting, onboarding, budget and milestone monitoring, risk and issue management, and project coordination.
- Synthesis and Insights: Consolidating learnings and making recommendations on further technology development and adoption potential.
Impact
AGO received exposure and easy access to a new pool of Australian industry and academic organisations and their associated capabilities from which to draw upon for technology support in automated geospatial intelligence. Through the successful conduct of technology showcase projects, AGO Labs has demonstrated that Australian industry possesses both technologies and capabilities that can assist AGO in solving existing defence challenges as well as identifying new challenges.
Key learnings for AGO included a greater understanding of the strengths of local industry AI/ML capability, a proven mechanism for industry engagement and internal problem definition, improved AGO staff awareness of current leading AI/ML approaches and technologies, and an improved AGO ability to work with small business who are unfamiliar with the objectives and processes of Defence and intelligence organisations. Additional outcomes for AGO were an appreciation of the enthusiasm that companies new to the defence intelligence arena could bring to the environment and the benefits that an innovative approach could have in unexpected but valuable ways.
AGO identified that the partnership with FrontierSI enabled them to do more, faster and better, and that the value delivered was much greater than the cost of the program. The program was regarded as highly successful.
“The FrontierSI team demonstrated unwavering enthusiasm, support, and responsiveness… Their leadership was indispensable in ensuring that each AGO Labs project delivered game-changing and practical technology on time and within budget.”
— Professor Son Lam Phung, University of Wollongong
“As a small business, working directly with Defence has been challenging. With FrontierSI’s facilitation, the experience was highly efficient and positive. The project was proposed, approved, and delivered all within six months.”
— David Shteinman, CEO, Industrial Sciences Group
Contact
To learn more, contact FrontierSI at contact@frontiersi.com.au.