CENTCOM Launches Competition For Innovation from Troops
The ‘Shark Tank’-like competition will pull solutions from active-duty personnel for possible use in the field.
PATRICK TUCKER | AUGUST 11, 2022
ARMY NAVY AIR FORCE MARINES SPACE FORCE
U.S. Central Command is launching a contest to elevate new technology solutions to military problems. But rather than reach out to industry and established defense contractors, the command is asking service members to submit ideas for possible scale up across the broader U.S. military.
The effort, dubbed Innovation Oasis, is open to all active service members, reservists and National Guard members, as well as all DOD civilians, until September 16, 2022. Judges include executives from Google, SpaceX, and NASA, as well as senior uniformed leaders from across the U.S. military.
“In the US military, we sometimes think of innovation as a function that we sprinkle on top of our plans once they're developed, or this function that comes in as we're developing a new idea. Well, that's not going to work. Innovation has to be part of who we are,” Col. Joe Buccino, a CENTCOM spokesperson and executive producer of the Innovation Oasis, told reporters Thursday.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2022/08/centcom-launches-competition-innovation-troops/375753/
