SOFWERX continues to expand, assist with technology transitions
NewsMay 05, 2025
TAMPA, Florida. SOFWERX, the innovation accelerator for U.S. Special Operations Command, has facilitated 362 events resulting in significant operational impacts for warfighters, including 75 technology transitions to contracts or programs of record, officials said at SOF Week 2025 here on Monday.
These events -- up from the 328 reported last year -- have resulted in 547 operator-focused projects, said Leslie Babich, director of SOFWERX, during her presentation.
SOFWERX tries to shrink the timeline for advancing new technology to just 60-90 days from kick-off to event execution. The idea is to get smaller companies with good ideas involved and remove barriers to doing so, Babich said.
"Joining the ecosystem ... it's super easy," she said. "It's not pay to play. It doesn't cost anything."
The organization's impacts were categorized into four key metrics: 75 transitions, 150 consignments, 377 validations, and 953 knowledge transfers.
Transitions represent projects that have successfully entered the formal acquisition process, with USSOCOM awarding "a new contractual vehicle to provide a new, improved, or continuing material, weapon, information system or service capability." Consignments are successful innovations adopted by end-users without requiring program-of-record formality. Validations are the middle stage where ideas undergo rigorous vetting during collaborative sessions. Finally, knowledge transfers represent the sharing of new information with key stakeholders.
