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.
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.
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.
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.