February 02. 2021
Approximately five years ago, the Department of Defense began a new effort to collaborate with non-traditional defense suppliers as a means of accelerating its pace of innovation. The clear and present danger that is driving this strategy is the unprecedented rise of China’s economy and it’s growing military strength.
In today’s episode, my guest, Col. Sean O’Brien, a professor and department head at the National Defense University, explains some of the ways DoD is modifying its acquisition and development efforts in order to accelerate systems development as well as leverage the innovation of non-traditional commercial suppliers that normally do not do business with DoD. In particular, Col. O’Brien discusses the origins and success of the Air Force’s KesselRun project.Tags: defenseinnovation, airforce, kesselrun
January 01. 2021
Innovation is the heartbeat of advancement in many areas of life, including commercial technology for defense. In this second episode of our discussion with Mike Courtney, a technologist and futurist, we discuss how innovation begins . . . and how it proceeds. Mike talks about “great leaps” as well as “incremental steps.” He explains why one approach may be more appropriate than the other.
To provide a context for this dynamic, we use the evolution of aerial bombardment to illustrate both incremental innovation and great leaps of innovation that have undergirded the changes in this method of war fighting.
We discuss what kind of perspective is needed to be an innovator and our examples include Leonardo DaVinci and Isaac Newton, two men whose backgrounds and range of expertise may surprise you.
Emails: mark@commercebasix.com and mike@apirioninsights.comTags: podcast, innovation, airforce
December 12. 2020
The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win...in air, space and cyberspace.
But doing that requires a new level of coordination and integration of both manned and unmanned systems. And a way to connect “sensors to shooters.”
In today’s episode, we talk with Ohad Harlev, co-founder and CEO of LyteLoop, a firm based in New York, and a recent participant in the Air Force Space Command’s Catalyst Accelerator. Ohad and his team have been working for four years to create the first space-based data center using a set of patentable techniques to store information on lasers connected to a constellation of low earth orbit satellites.
LyteLoop’s innovation, a space-based data center or a “cloud above the clouds,” could be a key part of helping Dr. William Roper’s vision of accessing data anywhere become a reality.
Email addresses:
Mark Goode: mark@commercebasix.com
Ohad Harlev: ohad.harlev@lyteloop.com
Original music composed by Josh Goode Music: joshgoode1@icloud.com
Tags: podcast, Space, innovation, catalystaccelerator, airforce, leo
