DRON8 Summit 2026
DRON8 Summit 2026 — Austin, Texas
On October 28, 2026, the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center at the University of Texas Austin becomes the most important room in the autonomous systems world for one day. Senior leaders from the U.S. and allies defense agencies, critical infrastructure operators, dual-use investors, and university research labs will gather for a program built entirely around one principle: real deployments, real decisions, real deals.
Agenda
8:00 AM | Doors Open
8:15 AM | Breakfast & Matchmaking room open for VIP
9:00 AM | Morning Power Session: Texas & Autonomy
Joseph Kopser (MC) together with Terry Zrubek, Senior representative of the Texas Governor's Office opens the day and let Rise & Shine: FIRST STEM Robotics and BEST Robotics high school students, the next generation of Texas innovators, engineers, and technology leaders.
10:00 AM | KEYNOTE: The opening keynote: From the Moon to the Mission: Building Autonomy We Can Trust, Prof. Maruthi Akella(UT Austin) traces the line from the guidance algorithm that put Apollo on the lunar surface to the autonomy question facing us now: not whether machines can decide, but whether we can trust how they do it. Main Room.
10:20 AM |ACADEMIA ON STAGE | National Aviation University Kyiv: From the Lab to the Field: How Research Becomes an Operational System, Prof. Sergiy Gnatyuk joins live from Kyiv, with Dr. Mosser hosting, to show what happens when the distance between a research paper and a deployed system is measured in weeks.
10:30 AM | SHOWCASE GALERY: companies, Jonathan Josephson (Quantum Interface) and Larry Covert (OXCART) put the technology itself in front of the room, live.
11:15 AM | TED-STYLE INVESTOR TALK: The Courage to Build: Why Dual-Use Technology Must Move From Prototype to Mission — Larry Covert (OXCART), Defense-tech investor, the gap between a prototype that works and a system the mission actually depends on.
11:30 AM | PANEL: Investor’s Playbook: Capital, Partnerships & the Path to Scale brings together investors from OXCART, The Veteran Fund, and other venture capital firms to unpack what it takes to get funded, and scale today. Frank Trevino (VenQuest Group) & Larry Covert (OXCART)
12:00 AM | LUNCH Demo Gallery & VIP lunch (Matchmaking)
1:00 PM | KEYNOTE: Who Is Flying That? Identity, Trust, and the Machines We Can't See - Ligeia Zeruto (Beyond Identity) turns the question every operator, regulator and defender eventually has to answer: when an autonomous system shows up in your airspace or on your network, proving what it is matters less than proving who stands behind it. Real threats, real needs, real urgency.
1:30 PM | PANEL II — Beyond the Demo: What It Takes to Become Mission-Ready: the stretch between a working prototype and a system someone will actually field is where most dual-use companies stall. Scott Firsing, PhD (Cesium Astro), Marcos Cervantes (Q-Branch), Matthew Strebe (FedTech) and Jessica Steinhoff (BidWell) talk through what actually closes it, procurement, proof, patience, moderated by Joseph Kopser (Grayline Group).
2:20 PM | SHOWCASE
2:40 PM | FIRESIDE CHAT — The Human Systems Behind Autonomy: how Texas builds the infrastructure, trust and partnerships that scale actually runs on. Drew Scheberle (NSIC) and Jonathan Josephson (Quantum Interface) sit down with Joseph Kopser to talk about the part of the operating environment that isn't technical, the workforce, the permitting, the relationships that decide whether a good system ever gets deployed here.
3:30 PM | SPECIAL GOVERNMENT ADDRESS — Why Texas: through Texas to the world — Secretary Howden on how the Lone Star State becomes the landing zone for dual-use and drone technologies, and what the state is putting behind that claim.
4:00 PM FEATURED TRANSATLANTIC CONVERSATION - Your Worst-Case Scenario Is Their Tuesday: Stefan Lindström, Consul General of Finland in Houston, and Anna Hammarlund Blixt, Consul General of Sweden in Houston, on what it looks like to build national resilience when the threat isn't hypothetical, and what the Nordic experience of living next to it can teach a room full of American founders and operators.
Evening: The Runway
The formal program ends. The real work begins.
A closing remarks maps DRON8's path for the year 2027. Partners are recognized. The Demo Gallery opens one final time. And the conversations that started at breakfast find their conclusion over drinks.
This is where the deals get made.
DRON8 Summit 2026 is co-organized with the University of Texas at Austin. Seating is curated and limited.
October 28, 2026 · Etter-Harbin Alumni Center, UT Austin · www.dron8.us
Contact founders: Andrea Hrusovska, MBA, Forbes & Jozef Hrusovsky
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