NSIN - National Security Innovation Network’s Post

I applaud the exhaustive efforts of the Army to ‘shoe-horn’ innovation into its standard bureaucratic structure (the same is true for the other Services, too) as described in this article. Given the number of failed previous attempts to mainstream innovation in all the Services, one has to wonder why this effort will succeed when every other one failed. One has to also wonder if trying to squeeze and encourage innovation in organizations focused on the status quo of maintaining current readiness is the only or best option. Maybe, the time is right for a new approach to military innovation (https://lnkd.in/egu82NZX).

The challenge of keeping up with fast-paced innovation is something we all face. It's important to maintain speed while instilling discipline, disrupt yourself constructively, and avoid becoming the incumbent you once outpaced. Delivering tangible results to mission partners is key. The DoD innovation community is working hard to find ways to accomplish this without stifling new ideas and the hardworking talent that fuels novel solutions. The Army is not alone in this struggle, as we are all working together. Check out this article to learn more about how the Army is striving to standardize innovation. #DoDInnovation #ArmyInnovation #FastPacedInnovation #AFWERX #DIU #ArmyApplicationsLab #NavalX

We should stop approaching innovation as a thing/concept that you judge at the end of a competition, but rather as an organizational capability that's forged and honed over time. The meaty challenge is in how to align *and institutionalize* Army policies and career outcomes with (oftentimes contradictory) innovation goals. What if we could identify and competitively elevate individuals (who're fit for the task) to be their specialty's lead innovators? How would we develop KSA progression pathways? Someday, I'd even love to see a master gunner-like course or weapons school patch for innovators.

I certainly can appreciate the struggle these officers are experiencing. The Army has done several things to shoot itself in the foot over innovation. First, it killed the Uniformed Army Scientist program. The Acquisition Corps resisted this initiative by GEN Paul Kern and killed it as soon as he retired. Secondly, it forced officers to single track in a basic branch rather that allowing officers to have a secondary MOS. That means, in order to get promoted a combat arms officer will never get exposed to other skills. This has had detrimental effects beyond innovation. Thirdly, it is choking off innovation with bloated bureaucratic processes at Futures Command. Innovation requires free thinking and the Army is trying to "manage" it by adding more and more process by people who don't understand how science and technology works. When I was a young second lieutenant, the mantra was to be "technically and tactically proficient". We have created a generation of officers who are only tactically proficient. As the tools of warfare become more and more dependent on advanced technology, we are going to need more officers who understand how that technology works (or doesn't) in order to better communicate with the companies developing it and to define realistic requirements.

The Military Industrial Complex, plus the Academic part...

Great news we have movement - time to accelerate the build allied model. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is working quickly to determine how and where to spend the nearly $1 billion US Congress provided in March through the fiscal 2024 appropriations act. The $983 million allocation, nearly $800 more than what DIU received last year, will support the growing organization’s mission to help the United States Department of Defense quickly foster and field commercial capabilities in large numbers, according to DIU director Doug Beck. As reported, "due to prolonged budget deliberations in Congress that delayed the release of appropriations, DIU’s funding came more than five months into the fiscal year, presenting Beck’s team with the challenge of using that money in a short period of time". Beck didn’t discuss the specific initiatives DIU will funnel the funding toward — or what additional staff he might need to support these efforts — but said it will fall in four primary buckets: - accelerating existing programs, - launching new ones, - supporting projects housed within other DoD #innovation organizations, and - addressing some of the challenges commercial companies face as they try to work with the DoD. A pretty broad agenda. Hopefully allies and partner nations, particularly in the #indopacific, will not be forgotten as these programs are progressed in a multidomain environment. One that is becoming increasingly contested. #defence #defense U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Armatus.ai Bernice Glenn Kissinger US Army US Navy United States Air Force U.S. Space Command Defence Australia Pacific International Center For High Technology Research - PICHTR Japan - The Government of Japan Japan Ministry of Defense David Anderson #innovation #china #taiwan #technology Jerry McGinn, Ph.D. Tomoki Matsuo Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) https://lnkd.in/g6FWV3YT

COMMUNITY Calling all critical thinkers - Let's enable future SOF missions in the contested domain! - Lisa Sanders United States Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) is hosting Innovation Foundry 16 (IF16) WHEN: 20-22 August 2024 (Application Deadline: 5 JULY) WHY: To ideate novel concepts and capabilities addressing “Contested Logistics in Future Special Operations Forces (SOF) Operations.” We will explore the challenges of resourcing parts, components, and supplies at the point of need for the untethered SOF Operator. WHO: S&T SOFWERX PEO-SOFSA Expeditionary Support Program Office Bringing together industry, academia, national labs, government, and futurists in an exploration, design thinking, facilitated event to assist USSOCOM in decomposing future scenarios and missions. WHERE: Lexington KY or Tampa, FL (Decision to be made by 30 June). More information and the official solicitation may be found at the link below. https://lnkd.in/gAGqvsfk

The third annual 2024 Department of the U.S. Air Force Modeling and Simulation Summit was held on 7-9 May. The goal of the M&S Summit is to gather U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force M&S experts to learn about new M&S initiatives and techniques, network across #military services and industry experts, and hear #technological leaders’ perspectives on how M&S can transition more #training from the real world to digital, following through with transforming training.

On Friday, Brave Inventors, in cooperation with Yuriy Granovsky, held a special workshop for Military Tech platform development teams on the topic "Research Strategy" The creation of a research strategy depends on: 👉How to receive relevant data that will help achieve business goals; 👉 How to choose appropriate methods and sources of knowledgeen methods and sources of knowledge be appropriate; Yura Granovsky and participants at the workshop:  🦾 discussed the benefits of applying research in the field of military innovations;   🦾dealt with the arsenal of research methods and systematized them;   🦾learned to choose research methods for specific tasks; 👉 during the workshop, each team planned their own research, based on current challenges and goals. Thanks to all the participants who joined the workshop, as well as to our partners (mark on their insta) for the space they provided for the meeting. Together we create the future!

"Innovation is important, necessary, and whether one invents the necessary change or one is dragged there by a cunning adversary through defeat and disruption, such innovation always occurs in war. However, militaries that unwittingly adhere to their particular war paradigm are institutionalised into rejecting many acts of innovation that are not immediately recognisable and able to integrate seamlessly with existing legacy constructs. Instead, in often a blatant showing of anti-intellectualism for any war theory outside the approved, organisationally relevant war paradigm in practice, militaries also show outright hostility and contempt for creative war thinking that threatens disruption, change and painful introspection, especially within established training institutions and doctrinal publications. This is a damning statement, but one that is fairly easy to demonstrate repeatedly across military services through how methods, doctrine and belief systems demand orthodoxy and adherence to the institutional framework  above all else." Read more at the Australian Defense Forces' Contemporary Issues in Air and Space Power Journal. My new article is titled "Why do Militaries Stifle New Ideas" and the PDF link is below (and free): https://lnkd.in/gSGQNH3Z #design #innovation #strategy #leadership #learning #creativity #complexity #change #leadershipdevelopment #army #marines #navy #space #spaceforce #socom #specialoperations #airforce #NATO