September 2026 to May 2027 · last updated 14 August 2026
Planning aid, not a source of record. Confirm every date, price and eligibility on the organizer's own site before registering, booking travel, or putting a number in a budget. Every row was checked against organizer sources in August 2026. Most spring 2027 events have not published a 2027 rate card, so prices for those rows are prior-year figures and are labelled as such, and several 2027 dates are placeholders on rows where the organizer has announced nothing. Full notes at the bottom.
Noteworthy
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By Aug 17OCEANS 2026 Monterey early-bird closes 17 August, three days out. The free Exhibits-Only Expo Pass is unaffected, but student full-conference jumps from $475 to $560.
By Aug 28DSI Biomanufacturing for Defense & Security (Oct 27-28, National Harbor): the $690 advance academic rate expires 28 August. This is the only real fix for the biomanufacturing gap, because the marquee event MHSRS runs in August and can never serve a fall-to-spring term.
CorrectedHypersonics is now the least accessible technology area on this calendar. DSI's Hypersonic Innovation Conference requires employment at a Joint Certification Program certified organization, so a student cannot register at any price. Work through a government sponsor instead.
NowRegister for Billington CyberSecurity at the $45 early student rate (Sept 8-10, DC) before it expires.
NowEnroll every team member in AUSA Basic membership (free for two years) before registering for AUSA Annual. General students are not an eligible category without it.
NowPre-register for the free exposition badge at AFA Air, Space & Cyber (Sept 14-16, National Harbor).
This weekEmail info@afceanova.org asking for a student rate on the AFCEA NOVA IT Days series. Chapters frequently grant these, and those single-day events have the highest program-office density per hour on this calendar.
Oct 2026APEX Defense (Jan 27-28, DC) opens its $450 academic window on Oct 1. Its whole format is warfighters bringing operational problems to industry in workshops, which is structurally the best match on this calendar.
Source checkAll 129 rows were re-verified against organizer sources in August 2026. The recurring defect was prior-year pages copied forward, so any row whose Access reads Check First and whose date note says NOT ANNOUNCED is a placeholder, not a plan. Five rows moved: Georgetown is now Free (its 2026 edition was verified free), while AAAA Army Aviation, Sea-Air-Space, SNA's 39th and Mitchell's Spacepower Forum moved to Check First because the free or published price this calendar had assumed could not be found on any current organizer page.
Jan 2027GEOINT Student Poster Competition opens Jan 20 and closes Mar 3. Winners get complimentary registration to a 4,000-person symposium. Set the reminder now.
Deadlines
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Day counts are calculated when you open this page, so they stay correct without the file being updated. Deadlines that have passed are dimmed and struck through. Anything not listed here has no published deadline, which usually means registration has not opened yet.
Student - Run Technology & National Security Conferences
McDonough Military Association and the MBA Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club, McCourt National Defense Policy Initiative, and the Center for Security and Emerging Technology
Common Mission Project has been a sponsor of this event.
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Access
DoW CTA
Domain
DoW Critical Technology Areas
USD(R&E) Emil Michael cut the CTA list from fourteen to six on 17 November 2025, on the reasoning that “14 priorities, in truth, means no priorities at all.” Much of the old list was folded in rather than dropped: trusted AI and autonomy, human-machine interfaces and advanced computing now sit under Applied AI; FutureG, space technology and integrated sensing and cyber largely sit under Q-BID.
AAIApplied Artificial Intelligence. Transforming the department into an AI-first organization. Absorbed the former trusted AI and autonomy, human-machine interfaces, and advanced computing and software areas.
BIOBiomanufacturing. Harnessing living systems to produce critical capabilities and substances at scale, reducing supply chain vulnerability.
LOGContested Logistics Technologies. Sustaining operations when the logistics tail is disrupted or under attack.
Q-BIDQuantum & Battlefield Information Dominance. Holding communications, sensing and precision navigation in degraded or denied environments. Absorbed much of the former FutureG, space technology, and integrated sensing and cyber areas.
SCADEScaled Directed Energy. Cost-effective high-energy systems that neutralize threats with precision, including counter-UAS defeat.
SHYScaled Hypersonics. Fielding Mach 5+ weapons en masse, and the sensing needed to track them.
These tags are our mapping, not an official designation by the organizer or by OUSD(R&E). The test applied was whether a team working a problem statement in that CTA could find relevant end users, program offices or vendors in the room. Most events serve more than one, so the counts do not sum to 129.
Regions
Grouped by what a team could realistically drive to rather than by census geography, because for most of these events travel costs more than registration.
Capital RegionWashington DC, Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland and Baltimore. 46% of the calendar sits here, so a DC-area team has a large structural advantage.
Mid-Atl / NEHampton Roads, Richmond, the Carolinas, and the Northeast. Drivable or a short flight from the Capital Region.
SoutheastFlorida and Georgia. Orlando and Tampa are the two hubs, and both are cheap to reach.
Gulf & TexasHuntsville, the Florida panhandle, and Texas. Huntsville alone carries 11 events, nearly all Army and missile programs.
MidwestMichigan, Wisconsin, Missouri and Ohio. Thin, but includes the free Army aviation summit in Kansas City.
Mountain WestColorado, Arizona, Nevada and Montana. Colorado Springs in April is the densest space week of the year.
West CoastCalifornia and the Pacific Northwest. San Diego and the Bay Area are the two clusters.
HawaiiHonolulu and Maui. Registration is rarely the problem here; airfare and lodging are. Only pursue with travel funding in hand.
Europe & NATOEuropean and NATO-facing events. Registration is often cheap or free, but airfare dominates the budget, and non-US teammates face visa and vetting steps that need 4 to 8 weeks of lead time.
Location TBACity not yet announced by the organizer.
What the access levels mean
FreeA genuinely free path exists for a student: free expo badge, free undergraduate registration, free via a no-cost membership, or a scholarship/award route.
Open to AttendPublished price, register and go. No barrier beyond money. Ranges from $45 to well over $1,000, so read the cost line.
Check FirstSomething is unresolved: the price is unpublished, the event is on a military installation and needs base access, or eligibility depends on who is on your team. Email the organizer before you budget or book.
RestrictedA wall a student cannot clear: a clearance requirement, a citizenship bar, or the event is sold out. Listed so nobody spends a week trying.
Date confidence appears under each date.
Confirmed came from the organizer's own site and is safe to book travel on.
Expected is inferred from the prior-year pattern and is not announced, so do not book on it.
Conflict means sources disagree; call the organizer first.
Just outside the window: plan for next cycle
MHSRS - Military Health System Research Symposium
Aug 2027 expected
Kissimmee FL
The marquee military-medicine event. Abstract-driven with strong poster participation. Cannot serve a Sept-May term - target abstract submission for Aug 2027.
DAFITC - Department of the Air Force IT & Cyberpower
Aug 24-26 2026 / ~Aug 2027
Montgomery AL
Military and government FREE, private sector only $200, 4,000+ attendees, 200+ booths. Best-priced service-IT event that exists. Two weeks outside the window - target Aug 2027.
AFCEA TechNet Augusta
Aug 17-20 2026 / ~Aug 2027
Augusta GA
Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Eisenhower focus. Very high value for Army cyber and EW problem statements.
AFCEA / INSA Intelligence & National Security Summit
Aug 26-27 2026 / ~Aug-Sept 2027
Bethesda MD
IC data, AI and cyber. Nineteen days before the window opened.
NGAUS General Conference
Aug 28-31 2026 / ~Aug 2027
Indianapolis IN
Excellent National Guard beneficiary venue. A September-start window narrowly misses it both years.
NDIA Future Force Capabilities Conference (FFC)
~June 2027
Las Vegas NV
Absorbed NDIA's Armaments, Ground Robotics and Munitions divisions. ~700 attendees.
Warrior East
June 23-24 2027
Virginia Beach VA
Higher-value sibling of Warrior West thanks to Fort Bragg and Virginia Beach SOF proximity.
Space Tech Expo USA
June 29 - July 1 2027
Anaheim CA
Large free-or-cheap exhibit-hall show. Good future target.
DoDIIS Worldwide
Aug 2026, next edition TBA
Tampa FL
Moved off its historical December slot - do NOT plan for a December 2026 edition, none exists. Also vetting-gated with substantial classified programming.
DIU H4D Educator Forum
~June 2027
National Capital Region
Free and fully sponsored with travel funding, but invitation-only and for EDUCATORS, not student teams.
Small Satellite Conference (Utah State)
Aug 2027
Logan UT
Annual August event, outside the window.
AIAA AVIATION Forum
June 7-11 2027
TBA
Aviation counterpart to SciTech.
MACC - Multi-Agency Craft Conference (ASNE)
~July 2027
Portsmouth VA
TOP OF THIS LIST. Free for full-time undergraduates AND free for government employees, with a tightly concentrated operator audience: NSWC Combatant Craft Division, PEO Ships small boats, Coast Guard, Army watercraft, SWCC and Naval Special Warfare, plus marine law enforcement and fire/rescue. One of the best-value defense events in the country for a student team. It just cannot fit a Sept-May term.
DEF CON 35
Aug 5-8 2027
Las Vegas NV
$520-600 with NO student or government discount ever, by deliberate policy, but no ID required either. Not beneficiary discovery - practitioners and researchers, not program managers. Real DoD ties worth knowing: the Aerospace Village (which hosted the Air Force and Space Force Hack-A-Sat competition), the ICS Village with CISA and DoE involvement, and DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge final. Good for technical grounding and recruiting advisors.
Navy Gold Coast Premier Procurement Expo
~Aug 2027
San Diego CA
Firmly a July-September event, so it will not fall in an academic-year window. $699+ with no student rate, and it is a procurement matchmaking event - the conversations are 'how do I sell to you,' not 'what problem do you have.' Use AFCEA WEST in February for San Diego Navy beneficiaries instead.
NDIA CBRN Defense Conference & Exhibition
~June 2027
Baltimore MD
Falls just past the May cutoff. The DSI Joint CBRN Symposium in March is the in-window substitute.
Black Hat USA
Jul 31 - Aug 5 2027
Las Vegas NV
Listed only to warn you off. Out of window, and the ACADEMIC pass is $1,999 with a $1,399 expo-only pass - the most expensive event researched for a student, at a commercial conference with no DoD beneficiaries. DEF CON delivers more for a quarter of the price.
About this calendar
Compiled by Common Mission Project as a planning aid for university teams conducting beneficiary discovery on government-sponsored problem statements. Last updated 14 August 2026.
Verify before you commit
We work to keep this accurate, but details change and some were never published. Always confirm dates, cost, venue and eligibility on the organizer's official site before registering, booking travel, or putting a figure in a budget.
Cost figures are frequently estimates
Many 2027 events had not opened registration when this was last updated, and several organizers do not publish rates publicly at all. Where a number is a prior-year proxy or an estimate, the entry says so. Do not submit any figure from this document in a budget without confirming it directly.
Dates marked Expected or Conflict are not confirmed
Expected means inferred from a prior-year pattern and not announced. Conflict means sources disagree on dates or venue. Do not book travel against either.
Read the terms before you attend
Some events restrict what you may publish or attribute. Several run under Chatham House Rule, and at least one requires a confidentiality and non-publication agreement that may conflict with presenting your findings. Confirm the terms before registering and before writing up interviews.
Eligibility is yours to verify
Clearance, citizenship, base access and membership requirements are noted where known, but they change and vary by individual.
No affiliation or endorsement
Common Mission Project is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any organization or event listed here, except where specifically noted in an individual entry. Two exceptions are disclosed on their entries: Common Mission Project has been a sponsor of the Georgetown Technology & National Security Conference and of the HBS / MIT Sloan Technology & National Security Conference. Inclusion is not a recommendation, and it does not indicate that travel or registration costs are approved or funded.
Access levels and technology-area tags are our assessment
They are not official designations by any organizer or by the Department of War. The Critical Technology Area tags reflect where we judged a team could find relevant end users, program offices or vendors.
Found an error? Email operations@commonmission.us and we will correct it. Dates, prices and student rates for 2027 events firm up through the fall, so corrections from the field are the main way this stays current.