Open innovation in the US Air Force

If the Air Force is to maintain lethality and readiness, we must learn to adapt technologies and praxis within an increasingly diffuse knowledge landscape. This thesis examines two efforts orchestrated through AFWERX that seek to invigorate grass-roots problem-solving and reform research and development partnerships with small businesses. Stepping back, chapter one motivates and characterizes the ideological shift within the Department of Defense (DoD) towards agility, highlighting pioneering efforts and their challenges. Chapter two turns to the Squadron Innovation Fund (SIF), introduced in 2018 to empower mission-oriented units to address capability and efficiency gaps. The chapter contributes a data-driven perspective on the spending trends, draws lessons from analogous efforts in industry, and offers practical steps to leverage the potential of the SIF as a bottom-up signal for heavier funding sources. Chapter three evaluates the state of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and traces its rapid reform under AFWERX, thereby setting up a rigorous econometric evaluation of these reforms in chapter four. Together, these chapters chart out a way forward for the SIF while providing evidence that AFWERX's modifications to SBIR are drawing a more desirable applicant pool.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Chimento, Charles William,III.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Fiona E. Murray.

• Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.
• Technology and Policy Program.
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127168

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/127168