Quest Accelerator supports early-stage ventures with transformative technologies for government within Security and Defense, Energy Resiliency, Sustainable Agriculture, Mobility, and other industry sectors. Our program brings startups, investors, and partners together to cultivate a center of gravity for collaboration and strengthen the innovation base. Through curated events and programming, our cohort teams engage with government stakeholders and commercial customers to tackle challenges. Cohort companies gain access to a network of private investors and government funding opportunities fueling technical development and opening doors to scale in the government and commercial markets. Quest Accelerator fosters the local economy, connecting startups to top talent while bolstering local workforces and supporting an innovation-driven economy.

To begin the program, the 8 member companies of the 2023 cohort participated in a series of virtual workshops, covering a variety of topics including: Introduction to Government Agencies, State Specific Opportunities, Government Contracting Strategies, and more. These virtual workshops additionally hosted a variety of guest speakers, panel discussions, collaborative reviews, and feedback sessions to build camaraderie and gain valuable insights from government officials, investors, business leaders, and dual-use experts.

During the program, the cohort companies had the opportunity to participate in the technology expo at the Pacific Operational Science and Technology (POST) Conference amongst 40 top industry companies. Additionally, the participating companies participated in the Field Experimentation Event at the Marine Corps base on Honolulu to demonstrate their technology to local government officials and organizations as well as federal agencies and international military organizations.

The program concluded with Demo Day, an event where cohort companies showcased their technologies in operational pilots to demonstrate their readiness to move into field-based demonstrations. This event provided founders the opportunity to showcase their technologies to investors, industry partners, government stakeholders, and more from across the nation.