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Looking at SportsTech for Innovation Diversity
What do sports and government have in common? A first glance, not much. But, as you look closer, growing investments in innovative uses of technologies are driving dynamic changes across the global sports market. From data analytics, video exploitation, secure transactions and payment systems to customer experience, human performance, and safety devices, innovations applied to sports might introduce some unique diverse solutions for related government needs.
The Power of the Innovation Network
More than twenty startups were recently awarded Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contracts by the Army during their xTech SBIR pilot competition. The purpose of the pilot is to accelerate technology prototypes for crucial Army capability gaps into military platforms.
Maintaining a Balanced Perspective on Artificial Intelligence by Paul Silvey
The quest to build Artificial Intelligence (AI), at least narrowly defined as computer programs that can mimic human cognitive capabilities sufficiently well as to solve practical problems for us, has again captured the business world’s attention. Government and private investment dollars are flowing into this sector, motivated by Machine Learning (ML) successes in performing object or event recognition and classification from perceptual data, at levels that can match and sometimes surpass the abilities of humans. The availability and affordability of massive amounts of data and computational resources, along with algorithmic innovations including large multi-layer artificial neural networks, has created a kind of gold rush phenomenon in the last ten years.
Bridging Innovation Interview with Nick Rotker
Looking for an example of leveraging networks to make positive change? Look no further than Massachusetts’ very own Nick Rotker, Bridging Innovation lead for MassChallenge Rhode Island partnership and current Department Manager of the newly formed Underwater and Acoustic System Department at The MITRE Corporation.
Innovation Tool Kit (ITK): It Really Does Work!
NewsLast September, about 80 MITRE leaders in the Health FFRDC participated in a two-hour introduction to the Innovation Toolkit (ITK)—a collection of methods and techniques curated by a team of cross-disciplinary MITRE experts to help teams work together to solve...
Extracting Facts from Hardcopy using AI
Forms, filings, hardcopy, transcripts. There are many examples of useful documents that are archived in various government agency systems that are typically not in usable condition – that is, usable for the automation of business intelligence solutions. Material that has been scanned from hardcopy or filed as structured forms (e.g., PDF) will often contain information useful to one mission area or another, but only when such documents are fully digitized, complete with metadata, and exploited by the right analysts and experts.
Supporting Underrepresented Founders
Founding a startup is challenging, but even more so when the founders are women or people of color. They receive just a fraction of venture capital funds. The root causes of this dearth of access to capital are many, including systemic (gender and racial bias) and cultural/social (women are less likely to ask for funding than men). Envision, a virtual accelerator program, is working to combat these ills.
Addressing Health Equity and Improving Access to Care
MITRE’s Bridging Innovation team is excited to announce another year partnering with MassChallenge HealthTech (MCHT)! MCHT is an innovation accelerator that specializes in pairing entrepreneurs with industry champions to provide start-ups with a range of advisory and financial supports to help them succeed in their line of business.
Evaluating Assurance of Autonomous Vehicles
Robots are increasingly playing an important role in applications ranging from manufacturing and construction to surgical robotics. Due to the critical nature of many applications, it is important for the industry to accelerate developing solutions and good practices that address cybersecurity for robotics.
Spotlight on Andy Chapman: Leveraging Bridging Innovation
When Andy Chapman joined MITRE four years ago as a retired Marine, he started working on unmanned systems, a completely new area to him. When he talked about his 3D printing hobby during his interview, he had no idea it would turn into a specialty in advanced manufacturing.
Dayton Partnership Advances Research, Develops New Talent
A university, a research institute, an Air Force base, and MITRE—all working together to innovate on next generation technologies for global competitiveness.
Mentoring in the Innovation Ecosystem: Michael Balazs
When Michael Balazs, chief futurist at MITRE, became the Charlottesville site leader, he wanted to grow the interactions with the local community to ensure MITRE delivers the best solutions for our government sponsors. He specifically focused on growing the autonomy work program and always looking for the latest technology to give us an edge.
Accelerating the Readiness of Augmented and Virtual Reality for Mass Deployment
Emerging technologies that are unlike anything that came before, are often dismissed as a toy – a temporary novelty with high entertainment value for consumers, but with little practical business use. Very few examples fit that description better than Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR). Through our work with our government sponsors, there are ample opportunities to apply AR/VR technology towards solving complex problems, and MITRE’s Bridging Innovation plays a key role expediting them.
Rethinking Topology Optimization through Iterative Design Cycles with Pareto
Designing and manufacturing parts with a straightforward goal, for instance, to be lightweight and provide the greatest strength with available materials at a reasonable cost can be a fairly uncomplicated endeavor. Add a goal of improved heat transfer in a multiple load scenario and the complexity of the manufacturing challenge grows enormously, with the ability to design and evaluate parts becoming time- and cost-prohibitive.
Celebrating Innovation and Risk-Taking at the MassChallenge 2020 Virtual Awards
The MassChallenge Virtual U.S Awards was a community-wide celebration of the innovation and creativity of the more than 200 startups that participated in MassChallenge’s first virtual early-stage programs in the U.S.
Texas Cybersecurity K-12 Panel – Shaping the Future Cybersecurity Workforce
Nearly a half million cybersecurity workers will be needed to fill shortages in the U.S. according to the Cyber Security Workforce Study produced in late 2019 by ISC2 the global nonprofit association of certified cybersecurity professionals. For Texans, the bigger the...
Fostering Dialogue for Robotics in Defense
Drones autonomously launched and recovered from a moving vehicle. Underwater autonomous platforms and sensors. Moving target robots for live fire training. Mixed Reality for improving accuracy of aircraft engine maintenance. Drones that look like a donut and can...
Engaging in the Innovation Ecosystem – Virtually!
A completely virtual startup accelerator. This would not have been imaginable until March 2020 when COVID-19 began spreading rapidly and new phrases such as “social distancing” and “fashionable face mask” were introduced. The whole world had to pivot, including...
Space Technologies Companies Blast Off
“Buckle up and get ready to blast off with some eye-opening solutions that promise to be game changers for space, that really reach for the stars and beyond.” With that introduction from lead mentor Lt Col J.J. Snow, chief technologist of AFWERX, the Techstars...
Demystifying Defense Acquisition for Startups
Is the thought of doing business with the Department of Defense enticing? Does it also make your head spin?! It’s true there are a lot of nuances that can be confusing, and in some cases conflicting, but it is possible to understand how to find and pursue...