MIBA Hosts Defense Tech Delegation to Michigan
Written by Dan Ryan, MIBA Defense and Aerospace Advisor
MIBA hosted its largest inbound delegation ever this month, with 21 delegates from 13 organizations descending upon Michigan for a week of impactful engagements, centered around the 16th Annual Michigan Defense Expo (MDEX) in Macomb County.
The delegation featured the first ever Israel Defense Pavilion at MDEX, giving the companies dedicated space to exhibit their innovations and meet with potential customers and partners. Attendees included top officials from our primary Delegation Partner, the SIBAT, Israel Ministry of Defense’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate as well as Startup Nation Central (SNC). With them were eleven Israel defense companies that covered a wide range of technologies and capabilities. You can read more about these companies in our Spotlight on Innovation section of this month’s MIBA Memo.
The first day was nearly an information overload, starting with a summary of the Michigan aerospace/defense ecosystem from the Michigan Office of Defense & Aerospace Innovation; Detroit Regional Partnership presented a compelling “Why Michigan” overview; and Butzel Law concluded the morning with an overview of the critical issues contractors face when doing business with the DOD. Monday afternoon included an overview of the Army Ground Vehicle System Center’s roadmap from Dr. Joe Cannon, followed by former GDLS executive Marc Shepard providing insights into doing business with ground-vehicle OEMs. Day 1 concluded with an interesting juxtaposition: our visitors from the “Start Up Nation” participated in Plug & Play Detroit, hearing presentations from US-based aerospace/defense startups.
Our guests spent the next three days at MDEX, an annual military land-vehicle focused trade show that is sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). This year’s event featured 65 companies exhibiting their products and capabilities. As shown in the accompanying pictures, the pavilion experienced a constant stream of traffic. The delegates also spent considerable time visiting other booths, looking for potential new customers and suppliers, sprinkled with a bit of investigating the competitive landscape.
Tuesday evening was perhaps the highlight of the week. MIBA hosted a fireside-chat that included the Israel delegates plus guests from industry and government. This great networking event began with some tasty treats sponsored by Mary And Ron Lamparter, followed by an inspiring presentation from Illana Sherrington-Hoffma of Startup Nation Central (SNC). SNC connects global partners with Israel’s technology ecosystem, providing access to Israel’s innovative technologies and entrepreneurs. The highlight of the evening, however, was the discussion featuring Amira Ilany, SIBAT Division Director, Europe & North America and MG Paul Rogers, the state of Michigan’s Adjutant General providing their insights on the opportunity between Michigan and Israel in the defense space.
Feedback from all Israel participants was extremely positive, and MIBA expects an even larger delegation next year!
We would like to thank the SIBAT as our Delegation Partner as well as our primary Delegation Sponsor, Butzel Law. Also making significant contributions were: Macomb County as our MDEX Networking Happy Hour Sponsor; Israel Aerospace Industries who sponsored the Collaboration Room in the pavilion; and Mary and Ron Lamparter for sponsoring the Fireside Chat event.
