The 9th annual TeCMEN Industry Day returns to the Destin Fort Walton Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, May 13, bringing together defense contractors, aerospace firms, manufacturers, educators and workforce development partners for a full day of programming, networking and matchmaking.

• The event is hosted by the Technology Coast Manufacturing and Engineering Network, a committee of One Okaloosa EDC that has operated since 1989. TeCMEN meets monthly on the shared University of West Florida and Northwest Florida State College campus in Fort Walton Beach, where 40 to 50 businesses regularly gather to collaborate and exchange ideas.

“Nine years ago, our leadership at the time, our volunteer chair and others said, ‘we’ve got something special here. We need to take it to a bigger stage,'” said Nathan Sparks, executive director of One Okaloosa EDC. “That is exactly what happened in 2017, when we had our first TeCMEN Industry Day at the Destin Fort Walton Beach Convention Center.”

This year’s expo hall will feature 46 booths, with exhibitors from the local area, the broader region and out of state.

Travis Hill, TeCMEN Chairman and Chief Pilot at Emerald Coast Air Charters, will deliver welcome remarks at 8:30 a.m. The opening keynote at 8:40 a.m. will feature Tim Smith, district secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation District 3, who will discuss Florida’s Advanced Air Mobility Strategy.

•  The state has taken a forward-leaning approach to accommodating electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed legislation allowing the state to participate in funding vertiport development.

A panel on rural health transformation through technology and innovation begins at 9:30 a.m., moderated by Nate Pierpoint of Planned Systems International. PSI, the event’s signature sponsor, and its subsidiary AutoMedix will also debut Go Hospital — a full-service mobile hospital built into a truck designed to serve underserved rural and remote areas — on the expo hall floor.

A Women in STEM panel at 11 a.m. will be moderated by Miranda Adams of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and feature Dr. Monica Allen of the Air Force Research Lab, Stacy Otzenberger of General Dynamics OTS and Luciana Colvin of TalkingParents.

At 12:15 p.m., retired Space Force Col. Rob Long, CEO of Space Florida, will deliver the keynote luncheon address on building aerospace success with The Florida Model.

New this year is a CareerConnect Opportunity Showcase and Job Fair, running from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the expo hall. The addition came in response to attendee surveys requesting a job fair component. Job seekers will include active-duty military preparing to transition out, veterans, military spouses and college students, including students from the University of West Florida’s Hal Marcus College of Science and Engineering.

• Speed matchmaking sessions are also offered in two windows, at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., giving companies 10-minute slots with small business representatives from Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. Table hosts include Iginia McNeil and Tina Mercer from Eglin, and Rob Burns and Jonathan Thurston from Hurlburt.

“Eglin is a very large organization. Hurlburt is also a large entity. Knowing the right people to connect with can be a daunting thing, especially if a business is new to this particular arena,” Sparks said. He noted that as much as $20 billion in contracts can be awarded annually from Eglin and Hurlburt combined, and the goal is to keep more of that work in the local community.

Okaloosa County’s defense community currently generates a $9 billion annual economic impact, Sparks said.

Beyond connecting local companies, Sparks said the event also serves as a recruiting tool for the region. He recently attended MRO Americas, an aviation maintenance trade event with 17,000 attendees, where he invited companies to visit Okaloosa County during Industry Day to experience the local cluster of companies and workforce development assets firsthand.

• “It’s one thing for me to sit at a trade show and show some pictures and some graphs and talk about our community, but we all know that if we get companies here to experience it firsthand, our community really often sells itself,” Sparks said.

The day closes with an afternoon workshop on company mentor-protégé frameworks at 2 p.m., followed by a networking reception from 3:30 to 5 p.m. open to all Industry Day and CareerConnect attendees.

Registration remains open at techmenindustryday.com and is expected to close Wednesday unless the event sells out first. Discounted rates are available for students, active-duty military and federal civil servants.