Navy, Pike District Partnership Co-Host Maritime Tech Industry Day with 3D Scanning Focus

Public Affairs Office 9500 MacArthur Blvd. West Bethesda, Md. 20817-5700 For more information, contact: Kelley Stirling: kelley.j.stirling.civ@us.navy.mil Ian McConnaughey: ian.m.mcconnaughey.civ@us.navy.mil

__FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 27, 2026 __

Navy, Pike District Partnership Co-Host Maritime Tech Industry Day with 3D Scanning Focus

By: Aaron Thomas, NSWC Carderock Public Affairs

NORTH BETHESDA, Md. – In a move to bolster technological advancement, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, partnered with the Pike District Partnership (PDP) and with support from the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, hosted a two-day innovation summit on Feb. 25-26, 2026. The summit, held at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, brought together leaders from academia, government, and industry to unite the region’s tech ecosystem and explore the future of 3D scanning and additive manufacturing.

Capt. Chris Matassa, Commanding Officer of NSWC Carderock, highlighted the significance of local collaboration. “This event is a great way for us to showcase Carderock’s world-class ship design and maritime tech innovation mission and the many opportunities available for partnership with small business and industry right here in our backyard in Montgomery County,” Matassa said.

The first day of the summit, Industry Day, was dedicated to opening a dialogue with the local business community and offering first-hand insight into Carderock’s future requirements. Attendees engaged directly with command leadership and representatives from Carderock’s technical codes, including its Naval Architecture and Engineering, Platform Integrity and Signatures departments, in an open forum discussion on “How We Work.”

Theresa Cameron, executive director of the Pike District Partnership, commented on their role in facilitating these connections. "We’re so happy to be assisting the Navy with this important event that will help local businesses get introduced to how they can work collaboratively with Carderock. We hope that everyone will take away some good tools that they can use to develop their businesses.”

The second day, titled SIDE 2026: A Deep Dive into 3D Scanning. SIDE, which stands for Scanning Industry Day Event, focused on the rapid evolution of digital geometry technology as well as presentations from students showcasing how they use 3D scanning and printing to solve critical naval technical problems.

Rayna Roades, a student panelist from Northern Virginia Community College, shared her perspective on the value of the event: "As someone who is an artist and engineer at the same time, it was really fun to see other people passionate about intersections of technologies. This is really helpful; it helps us see what is happening in the industry with this software and where we can take this."

The significant turnout and active participation across both days underscored a strong desire from the private sector to collaborate with the Navy. "I think one of the takeaways is that people really want to have the engagement, they've got a lot of questions. And they do want to work with Carderock," observed Lauren “Tink” Hanyok, Carderock’s innovation and foresight lead, who helped organize the summit.

The primary goal of the technical sessions was to produce draft proposals that could be developed into working agreements to directly support the warfighter. As Hanyok concluded, "Having these types of engagements as often as we can is really valuable to build sort of that ecosystem that sort of surrounds the type of tech that Carderock works on.”

The summit marked a key step in building a robust innovation ecosystem that serves both national security and regional economic vitality.