Office of Naval Research Innovation Newsletter | June 2010

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate CONTENTS Director of Fishing for Great Ideas? To Be a Truly Innovative Organization You Need More Than a Net! ............2 INNOVATION Social Technologies: Connecting Government and Citizens for Open Innovation ................................5 Innovation Beyond Imagination Gaming for Innovation: An Open Source Approach to Generating Insight ...........................................8 Volume 5 | June 2010 Open Innovation: A General Utilitarian View and Speciﬁc Lessons Learned ..................................10 The Innovation Imperative .................................13 Ofﬁce of Naval Research Marks 50th Anniversary of Laser Technology ...........................................14 NWDC: Navy’s Concept Generation and Concept Development (CGCD) Program ...........................15 Innovating to Protect Our Future........................17 Upcoming Events ...............................................18 Director’s Corner ...............................................19 Social Media Presence ......................................19 1

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate w www.onr.navy.mil/innovate www.onr.navy.mil/innovate nr n y l / n t Vo 5 | June 2010 Vol. June 201 n 2010 Vol. 5 | June 2010 FISHING FOR GREAT IDEAS? TO BE A TRULY INNOVATIVE ORGANIZATION YOU NEED MORE THAN A NET! Neal Thornberry, Ph.D. – Innovation Chair, Graduate School of Business, NPS Nicholas Dew Ph.D. – Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, NPS Deborah Gibbons, Ph.D. – Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, NPS The Navy, like most other large organizations often stacked against them. While there is still today is increasing the drumbeat for innovation. no prescriptive code for innovation like there is Innovation is not only a top priority for the for Lean Six Sigma, certain trends and enablers current Chief of Naval Operations, a recent are starting to emerge as common across some IBM survey places it as a top priority for the of the winners. majority of fortune 500 CEOs. The reasons are 1. A tool not a destination: One of the both obvious and compelling. Companies in biggest mistakes that organizations make in the private sector are facing escalating costs, pursuing innovation is that they see and talk unpredictable economic environments, and about innovation as a destination, not a tool technology that is increasing at the speed for accomplishing something. We often ask of light. Just when a company thinks it has our clients what they want more innovation invented the best mouse trap someone comes to do for them. What is the desired effect? around the corner with a better one. Our It’s amazing to us how many CEO’s and top military is also facing a turbulent geopolitical level leaders struggle with the answer to landscape, huge pressures on cost reduction, this question. Do you want better products and an enemy that is exceedingly clever and and services, or creative cost cutting ideas, often uses very low-tech weaponry. or an organization that is much more nimble All of us who have tried to introduce and then and agile, thus being able to react to a implement something different understand competitive threat or a hostile act? Failing that innovation is an easy word to say but to specify the tool’s use often leads to a hard thing to do. In fact, many large and vague and undifferentiated understanding established organizations are often innovation of the concept and a lot of uncoordinated killers despite their best intentions. Suffocating initiatives. Innovation winners are clear bureaucracy, risk aversion, control systems out about the tool’s purpose and, thus, know of control, the “not invented here” syndrome, how to structure things around the tool to slavish cost cutting, and idea censorship are a make its use both effective and efficient. few of the causative factors for the failure of Intel, for example, is in the chip business many innovative initiatives. and while they innovate in the chip space, the real use of the tool is to work with But some large organizations – including partners and electronics manufacturers to military ones – have succeeded in inducing create products that use more of their chips. greater innovation despite the odds that are 2

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate 2. A clearly articulated strategy: If you experimentation – they tend to be more understand what you are using the tool for creative and better able to innovate. then you have already begun to develop an articulated innovation strategy. Successful Serendipity involves the discovery of innovators have spent more than a few something valuable when you aren’t hours trying to articulate exactly what looking for it, and it tends to occur around they want from innovation and then coffee pots and other places where people create structures, processes, values, and run into each other and chat. These brief incentives so that the innovation strategy discussions can spark creative ideas either actually gets implemented. The United by triggering new solutions to problems States Coast Guard (CG), for example, has or by triggering new ways of seeing a an innovation strategy and an “Innovation process or a problem. Organizations that Council” staffed with Commander and empower people to share and build on Captain level personnel who have shown each other’s unconventional ideas provide an entrepreneurial orientation. Then an environment where creative serendipity they tell the commanders of these folks can be funneled into actionable plans. that Innovation Council members are 4. Entrepreneurship: Innovation’s lesser required to spend 60-70% of their time known sibling: Entrepreneurship often pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities involves innovation but innovation does not within the CG. Higher ups in the chain always involve entrepreneurship. Simply of command step in personally if the defined, entrepreneurship is the mindset entrepreneur’s direct superior tells and skillset that transforms an innovative them to “get back to work and forget idea into an opportunity to create value. In about all this innovation nonsense.” the private sector, value is easily understood as “economic” value. In government, it is The Navy has just stood up its own often defined as social value (e.g., less gang innovation council called the Innovation violence) and in the military, such value Council of Captains (ICOC) for the explicit can be defined in a number of ways, such purpose of aiding new concept generation as superior communications, faster time and development for battlefield superiority. to a field hospital for wounded soldiers, or Without a strategy, an organization is very Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles much on the road that Alice in Wonderland to the theater faster (due to an innovation took when she reached a fork in the road in the acquisition process) that decrease and encountered the Cheshire cat. When injuries and fatalities and allow more she asked the cat for directions as to which effective operations to be conducted. path to take he asked where she was headed. She responded that she did not The winners in innovation seem to know as she was lost. “Then either road will understand that great ideas are not do,” he replied. That is sage advice for any the same as great opportunities. Real organization trying to be more innovative. opportunities are rare and “like bees to If you don’t know your destination honey, they draw people and money.” then any path is as good as another. Successful entrepreneurs are often successful because they have the desire 3. Allowing serendipity and fostering and discipline to find out if their innovative creativity: People who do the same thing idea is also an opportunity. They will often and talk with the same people about the reshape and transform their initial idea same topics day after day tend to become until its starts to look, smell, and feel like stale in their thinking. In contrast, people an opportunity. Idea generation is the who interact within a broader and more fun part but determining whether an diverse community, who feel safe sharing idea is actually an opportunity is where new ideas, and whose organizational the fun stops and the hard work begins. culture encourages brainstorming and IBM, IDG, and other innovation winners 3

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 know that innovation must be enabled by way beyond their own capabilities. entrepreneurial processes or ideas remain Today, P&G’s motto is “proudly just that – ideas. IBM for example has a very not invented here.” well developed sifting and vetting process for taking the thousands of ideas that they The idea of “proudly not invented here” is at generate in their worldwide innovation jam the heart of the Open Innovation movement and narrowing them down to a few that which has not only paid off handsomely for represent high potential opportunities. companies in the private sector but also for governmental organizations as well. One approach, as experienced Both NASA and the CIA have used open entrepreneurs well know, is to keep the cost innovation to help debug and enhance of developing new ideas into opportunities some of their internally developed software very affordable. One example is IDG which which they give away free as long as the funds a lot of their internal entrepreneurs users help them with both debugging with small amounts of seed capital to see and enhancement. But as we said at the if an idea has opportunity characteristics. beginning of this article, it takes more They follow the motto “pay a little, learn a than a wide net to be truly innovative.  lot.” IDG books gave John Kilcullen, one of their new young entrepreneurially oriented managers, $1.5 million in seed capital to see if his crazy idea about Books for Dummies had any traction. Most at IDG were against the idea, but that very small amount of seed money turned into a billion dollar franchise. 5. Not invented here: Proctor and Gamble (P&G) is arguably one of America’s most innovative companies. From Iams pet foods to the Swiffer mop, they keep coming up with great new products. But in the 1980’s they started to lose their innovative edge. Sales were flat and no new $100 million products were coming out of their research and development (R&D) folks. They did as you would expect and went through a heavy press on cost cutting and while this helped their profit margins, it did nothing for their inventiveness. They then did something that we often recommend to our clients and that is, a postmortem of their innovative winners and losers. For P&G this lead to a dramatic realization that they were so focused on making little changes in their current brands that they had become increasingly internally focused, thus missing external trends and opportunities that they could leverage for greater growth. Ready to step up your When P&G finally woke up, they realized fishing game? that relying on themselves and their own internal R&D staff had cut them off from a world of ideas and partners who could help accelerate their innovation 4

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES: CONNECTING GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENS FOR OPEN INNOVATION John Ohab, Ph.D. – New Technology Strategist, OMNITEC Solutions Inc., in support of Defense Media Activity The Library of Congress Providing enormous datasets a critical role in engaging the recently added to its collection for the public is only one part new and diverse audiences a digital archive of every tweet of President Obama’s nuanced needed to translate raw posted on Twitter since the plan to establish a more government data into service launched in March transparent, participatory, and meaningful applications. 2006. That’s a lot of data, collaborative government. Already, blogs, wikis, social and with tens of millions of Data.gov, one of the ﬂagship networks, and other social new tweets every day, the websites of the Open technologies function as collection isn’t getting any Government Initiative, has enablers for OI across the smaller. Skeptics may question already provided the public government. This paper the value of having the with access to over 250,000 explores the important role government catalog billions government datasets. To of social technologies in three of inane comments about last maximize the value of this key areas: crowdsourcing, night’s Desperate Housewives data, the government will intra-government or the latest Justin Beiber rely on web and mobile collaboration, and citizen song; but researchers may developers to create a wide science. view this as an opportunity variety of applications, to examine the socio-political mashups, and analytical Crowdsourcing contexts of the 21st century’s tools. In the past year, trendiest technology. For Data.gov has returned The federal government now, the debate about applications ranging from has traditionally sparked how the information will visualizations of national innovation from external be used is trumped by obesity trends to ﬂight audiences through grants and what this move represents: scheduling tools to the contracts. However, emerging another acknowledgment distribution of hazardous social technologies are now by the federal government waste facilities. The enabling governments to that information is more government will need distribute problems to a valuable when it is available to continue to inspire diverse array of solvers in and accessible, free to be citizen participation and the public, driving innovation reworked, repackaged, build incentives for more from unexpected sources. mashed up, analyzed, and widespread use of this data. The General Services processed through the Open Administration (GSA) deployed Social technologies will play a government-wide public Innovation (OI) mill. 5

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 dialog tool, IdeaScale, to examples of how the federal Department of Homeland provide citizens with a forum government is embracing the Security initiative. VirtualUSA to share, discuss, and vote notion that the best ideas integrates existing frameworks on ideas for agency Open don’t always come from and technologies, rather than Government Plans. The Better within. inventing new ones, so federal, Buy Project, an experimental state, local, and tribal first- collaboration effort sponsored Collaboration responders can communicate by GSA, employs a similar in real-time regardless of crowdsourcing tool, UserVoice, Government agencies are platform or software. Notably, to generate public dialog for often criticized for not VirtualUSA uses open-source ways to improve the federal communicating efficiently, software and is user-driven, procurement and contracting but advances in social accepting contributions from process. The Better Buy technologies have enhanced anyone with information Project is unique in that the the speed, scope, and about water and power lines, top ideas are imported to a reliability of information traffic, weather, and other public wiki, where visitors can sharing. Starting with critical assets. contribute market research the launch of Intelink, a continually evolving suite Immersive environments and define requirements. of collaborative tools for are also proving to be an Importantly, social the intelligence community, effective mechanism for cross- technologies like IdeaScale, several agencies have followed government collaboration. UserVoice, and others, provide suit with their own Wikipedia- Several federal agencies real-time feedback that can like services, including the are joining forces to launch be harnessed for rapid idea DoDTechipedia, the State the vGov virtual worlds’ generation and organization. Department’s Diplopedia, project, which will provide Prizes and challenges have and the FBI’s Bureaupedia. a government-wide secure also become an increasingly More recently, the Office virtual world environment popular mechanism to of the Director of National that can support meetings, inspire creative ideas from Intelligence’s A-Space and training, and networking the public. The U.S. Army NASA’s Spacebook have areas. Government and the U.S. Department of provided a Facebook-like employees, appearing as Agriculture recently held their social networking platform for their favorite avatar, will have first application development large-scale collaboration and access to Voice over Internet challenges, “Apps for the information sharing. In the Protocol, instant messaging, Army” and “Apps for Healthy fall, GSA will take things one video conferencing, and other Kids,” respectively, which offer step further with FedSpace, a collaborative tools. cash prizes for innovative secure collaboration service mobile or web applications. that is intended to connect Citizen Science NASA’s Pathfinder Innovation all federal government Contest challenged the Government agencies are employees under one Web 2.0 public to develop their own increasingly looking to the umbrella. casual games that could public to observe, record, and be used by NASA in future Emergency management contribute data to scientific crowdsourcing projects. The stakeholders are experiencing research. Known as “citizen Environmental Protection first-hand the benefits science,” this growing field Agency holds numerous of “many-to-many” enables individuals with or video contests on YouTube communication. During without scientific training to encourage students and the Gulf Coast oil spill, for to take part in research that others to develop public example, emergency response ranges from water chemistry service announcements for officials shared geospatial data testing to wildlife monitoring environmental stewardship. and coordinated responses to distributed computing. These are just a few through VirtualUSA, a Many of these citizen science 6

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate projects combine large-scale enabled smartphone to make General George S. Patton once human observations with geo-tagged observations said, “If everyone is thinking emerging social technologies, and take photos of invasive alike, someone isn’t thinking.” providing a mechanism to test plant species in parks. Once As technology continues innovative ways of gathering invasive plants are identified, to infuse virtually every and analyzing scientific data. relevant information is placed aspect of society, the federal on publically accessible government will increasingly The U.S. Geological Survey map to alert Park Rangers. rely on these innovative recently launched its Twitter NASA, a stalwart in the field thinkers – from both internal Earthquake Detector, a of citizen science, recently and external audiences – program investigating partnered with Microsoft for to develop solutions that how social technologies the “Be a Martian” project, make the government more can be used to gather and which enables web users efficient and effective. provide information about to assist astrophysicists in Whether virtual worlds, earthquakes. The system developing comprehensive social networks, or public gathers real-time, earthquake- maps of the Martian feedback, social technologies related tweets from people landscape. The project provide a new conduit to who have experienced a represents an innovative connect innovators with the seismic event, and applies fusion of cloud computing, information, resources, and place, time, and keyword scientific collaboration, and stakeholders necessary to filtering to rapidly deliver crowdsourcing, as well as translate ideas into meaningful earthquake products and principles of social gaming applications.  hazard information. – participants are rewarded The National Science game points for counting Foundation (NSF)-funded craters and assisting in various project, “What’s Invasive?” research tasks. invites anyone with a GPS- Social Technologies: An Online Laboratory for Experimentation Dr. Ohab collected the logos from several social media websites and embedded them into the periodic table to illustrate the use of social media technologies as an online laboratory for scientists. 7

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 GAMING FOR INNOVATION: AN OPEN SOURCE APPROACH TO GENERATING INSIGHT Garth Jensen – Director of Innovation, NSWC Carderock Division Melody Cook – Innovation Analyst, Analytic Services, Inc. and ONR Office of Innovation k By now, most people recognize emergence of online gaming of scale achieved by Massive online scenario-based games as an open source platform for Multiplayer Online Games, as a realistic, convenient, insight generation, i.e., “Gaming industry has been utilizing the and affordable way to give for Innovation.” Today in the gaming platform for quite some our service members an Navy, activities like innovation time. From alternative reality opportunity for training prior gathering, brainstorming, and scenario based games to a real mission. The Army, in strategic planning, wargaming like Institute for the Future’s particular, has demonstrated and concept generation still (IFTFs) “World without Oil,” its faith in the gaming typically take place around a to more text based games environment, and actively uses table, in a room populated by like IBM’s “Innovation Jams,” games like America’s Army, experts who are drawn from a there is no question amongst Full Spectrum Warrior, and largely static pool. The resultant the companies orchestrating others to provide an effective intellectual content is injected these events that gaming is training experience. The Army into a standard Microsoft Office truly a revitalized approach has spent millions investing document, and this becomes to harvesting the insights in new gaming technologies, the final deliverable. While the from collective intelligence. with scenarios that In World without Oil, replicate real-world players were asked to environments, “One thing a person cannot do, no matter how imagine what their lives all while being rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination, would be like in a world packaged in a is to draw up a list of things that would never deprived of petroleum. mobile platform This serious game that allows training occur to him.” resulted in participants to happen anywhere – Thomas Schelling contributing over and anytime. To see 1,500 personal blog the DoD-wide acceptance of traditional methods still provide entries, videos, voicemails gaming as a means of training, value, we wanted to explore and images; tapping into the one need only spend a day ways that would revitalize collective imagination of over strolling the aisles at I/ITSEC: these activities while creating 2,000 active players in a small a joint industry, academic, opportunities to expand the window of time. In a different and inter-service event, and participant pool and harness setting, IBM’s Innovation billed as “the World’s Largest the breadth and depth of Jam brought together more Modeling, Simulation and knowledge that is inherent in all than 150,000 IBMers as well Training Conference,” which has of our naval service members as thought leaders from held a number of serious games and civilians. This article is academia, government, and showcases and challenges in intended to give you insight other corporations to produce recent years. into what has inspired us to more than 37,000 fresh ideas. explore this path and where we The outcome of this extra large Departing from the training are headed. brainstorming session was an paradigm, the Office of Naval innovative and open approach Research, is exploring the Acknowledging the benefits 8

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate to mining for new business peoples’ imaginations we envision turning the opportunities. IBM leadership in ways that traditional training paradigm on its head incentivized their participant methods simply can’t. to accomplish something even pool with over $100 million more powerful for the Navy and in follow-on funding for the • By massively scaling up Marine Corps. The game based strongest ideas. the size and diversity of training paradigm assumes that the participant pool, they the game sponsor possesses More recently and closer enable the emergence a finite and specific body of to home, is a game called of outlying thoughts, knowledge that the player “Signtific.” Sponsored by the which may be statistically does not possess. The sponsor Director Defense Research insignificant but turn out to transmits this knowledge by and Engineering (DDR&E), and be strategically relevant. means of a scripted, largely developed by the IFTF, Signtific deterministic game. In this is a massive multiplayer • Being played model, the trainer is the sole forecasting game that uses collectively, they offer proprietor of intellectual immersive alternate reality an unprecedented capital. techniques to generate vivid opportunity to drive more stories and social predictions. “knowledge accidents,” In contrast, we envision using The Signtific Platform is those novel intersections serious games in situations designed to engage the and complex interactions where the game sponsor is global scientific community in of ideas which would not struggling with a truly difficult anticipating the most important occur and which we would challenge, does not have all innovations and disruptions not be able to predict by the answers, and needs to in science and technology using traditional methods. transcend his usual ways of – and understanding their knowing. In this situation, implications for the future of • Because they exist online, the intellectual capital is society at large. It stands at and can even persist and now supplied by the broader the leading edge of several evolve over time, they community “out there,” but it trends that promise to reshape increase the range of exists in the form of unrealized the practice of science in possible scenarios that potential. By structuring the the coming years. Via the can be explored, resulting problem in the form of a less same open-source approach in a greater tolerance for deterministic, less scripted discussed above, DDR&E and iterations and excursions game, and opening it up to IFTF collect, aggregate, and from the base case. a large pool of interested process individual signals about participants, serious gaming potential scientific innovations, • Finally, online games offer provides a forum by which and turn them into forecasts the ability to do all of this the broader community can and larger scale narrative remotely, thereby radically engage with the problem, and threads. reducing the overhead the mechanism by which this costs and other “barriers previously unrealized potential Games are emerging as an to entry” traditionally can now emerge to become object of serious consideration associated with conducting true insight. for a number of reasons: a large scale, scenario based collaborative event. With this in mind, the range • Because they are of potential uses for serious scenario based, and While training has, until now, gaming, then, becomes limited involve some form of been the most common only by the user’s imagination, perceived competition, application of serious games, but some obvious ones include: they tend to engage 9

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 • Introducing a game it may offer one of our best Naval Postgraduate School and changing technology to hopes for arriving at “the next the Institute for the Future. It a community of users; big thing”. seeks to integrate elements from Massive Multiplayer • Ironing out the interface Ultimately, we see on the Online Games, Alternate Reality between Concept of horizon an era of ubiquitous Games, large-n text based Operations and technology; gaming: gaming as learning, collaborative events, geospatial gaming as planning, gaming as mapping tools, and Web 2.0 • Inhabiting alternative an integral part of our everyday collaborative tools, and extend futures for strategic work. In the not too distant them to scenarios of interest planning; future, the average person, to Navy and Marine Corps. faced with a hard problem and Ultimately, we recognize that • Red teaming; the need for insight, will be there are untapped ideas in able to author a game, put it • Technology forecasting; the minds of our service men out to a large pool of players, and women, regardless of rank, and generate insights as easily • Rapid prototyping; age, skills, and organizational as he creates a PowerPoint background, and we are presentation or a YouTube • Wicked problems; determined to use gaming as video today. a means of accessing this body • Regulatory and policy ONR is exploring this emergent of knowledge. It is imperative development. technology by sponsoring a that we put our heads together pilot demonstration, known collectively to think about and In this context, the use of simply as the Massively prepare for the Navy of the serious games to generate Multiplayer Online Wargame future. MMOWGLI is scheduled insight can be viewed as one Leveraging the Internet to go live in the Spring of 2011, more mechanism for open (MMOWGLI) (pronounced just so stay tuned and when that source innovation. And while like the character from The time comes around we hope serious gaming itself may not Jungle Book). MMOWGLI is you’ll join us in gaming for constitute “the next big thing” a joint venture between the innovation.  OPEN INNOVATION: A GENERAL UTILITARIAN VIEW AND SPECIFIC LESSONS LEARNED Jason Stack, Ph.D. – ONR Program Officer, Ocean Battlespace Sensing The mission of the Department goals will be innovations in misunderstood, and often of Defense (DoD) is business processes not in misrepresented, these fundamentally different from technology. These process three buzzwords embody that of industry; however, innovations must contain some foundational concepts that are how DoD achieves its mission w level of “openness” due to the required for innovating better, is the same – better, faster, global nature of business and faster, and cheaper in today’s and cheaper. In DoD terms, the exponential growth rate of environment. Unfortunately, this translates to delivering information. The question then the majority of published improved warfighting becomes “what should this material in DoD espousing capabilities with increased open innovation entail?” these activities focuses on transition speed at reduced compliance with DoD mandates Successful open innovation total ownership cost. There is rather than providing any requires three activities: open a growing consensus within substantive guidance on what business, open architecture, industry and academia that the these activities actually entail and rapid technology most significant innovations or best business practices for insertion. While overused, contributing to these general how they may be effectively 10

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate employed. Therefore, the was a strategic following discussion illustrates selection of these three activities and membership TECHNOLOGY INSERTION highlights their critical emphasizing components; these activities those with actual and their components are stewardship over integral to open innovation the processes. regardless of problem domain, In general, a CoI OPEN OPEN hardware vs. software, or must effectively BUSINESS ARCHITECTURE business sector. Finally, balance the needs examples of lessons learned are of the community provided from the naval mine against warfare (MIW) community. compliance with While not a large or glamorous higher-level DoD warfare area, MIW’s agile, and industry well-defined, and cohesive standards. It community has afforded it must constantly the opportunity to prototype revisit and ensure and successfully implement a membership as the contributing factors wide array of open business, breadth when prioritizing the includes size, unit cost, number open architecture, and rapid next set of data products to of potential developers, and technology insertion initiatives. be standardized. Web-based pace of technology evolution collaboration tools such as and obsolescence. Translated The goal of open business is to Wiki’s, SharePoint, and Defense to the Program Manager, maximize the viable performer Connect Online may be used to the challenge is to balance base by broadly leveraging host information and facilitate sufficient openness (thereby relevant technologies and collaboration. For MIW, this promoting innovation and expertise from other sectors. has resulted in academics from affordability) against too much The three critical components operations research (with parsing of the system, which are education, common no prior MIW experience) can lead to program cost standards, and separating the being rapidly and affordably increase and unattractiveness functions of integrator and educated in the relevant MIW to potential developers. An developer. A powerful approach processes and subsequently approach for testing open for enabling education and developing specialized, state- architecture used in many common standards is the of-the-art approaches in sectors including MIW is to Community of Interest (CoI). task decomposition, asset enlist an independent third- This approach was employed by allocation, and scheduling party agent (ideally one the MIW CoI, which first met in software. with no prior knowledge of May 2006 and was chartered in April 2008. It pulled together The goal of open architecture the system or its modules). experts from across the is to minimize the cost This agent serves as a Naval Research Enterprise to and effort associated with surrogate system integrator author and publish domain- technology upgrades and by integrating a previously specific data models (e.g., insertion. Its three components unseen module into the system mine-like contacts, plans, are modularity, standard while tracking metrics such as and environments), a sensor interfaces, and component hours of support interaction format data specification (e.g., reuse. The challenge for with the developers, minor imaging sonars), and developer achieving modularity within system tweaks, major system guidance (e.g., search theory, software begins with ensuring modifications, and total algorithm descriptions, and separation of application, integration effort. Within MIW, evaluation techniques). A key data, and presentation layers. use of this test has resulted in factor enabling this substantial The challenge for hardware an early, clear, and affordable progress in such a short time is often more complicated means to confirm and debunk 11

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 claims of open architecture data, formats, and interfaces. demonstrating compliance and provide feedback for The challenge with DR/IP with high-level mandates architecture improvements in management is that this area is and generating reams of multiple systems. Further, it has fraught with misconception and documentation. In fact, there proven to be an exceptionally misinformation. It is a common are many communities in DoD powerful tool in uncovering yet incorrect statement demonstrating progress in problems in business strategy, that government should open innovation and sharing contracting language, and data “always strive for at least their lessons learned. However, rights. government-purpose rights.” there are substantial barriers To support open innovation to open innovation; the two The goal of rapid technology the government should always most significant are DoD’s insertion is to minimize the strive for the most appropriate information assurance (IA) distance between the worlds data rights – this implies the posture and the widget-centric of development, prototype, government does not always (vice capability-centric) budget and production. Its critical have free rein over everything it structure. Within the Navy, the components include test beds, uses but rather leverages other budget issue must be addressed exit criteria, and management technologies as appropriate. by increasing coordination of data rights and intellectual One approach within MIW between the warfighter, property (DR/IP). Test beds concerns the need to use acquisition, requirements, and are a cornerstone of open sonar to look for things in the science and technology. For innovation, and when properly ocean. This need is shared example, the Navy has revised designed they are a core by other industries including the Concept Generation and enabler of making technology petrochemical, archeology, Concept Development process insertion rapid. The challenge geology, salvage, fisheries, etc. in an effort to streamline in making a test bed effective Therefore, some systems are ideas into concepts and then licensed with restricted data d from concepts, into actual “The goal of open business is to rights and no government- capabilities via a Navy-wide maximize the viable performer owned IP; some are jointly coordinated and collaborative developed with government- process. As an example of base by broadly leveraging purpose data rights and mixed working within IA constraints, relevant technologies and IP ownership; and some the MIW CoI is teaming with expertise from other sectors.” (truly unique to DoD) are fully the Anti-Submarine Warfare developed and wholly owned CoI and the Naval Postgraduate by the government. The result School to explore web-based is to give potential developers within MIW has been to force collaboration, educational (not only the integrator) the an overt and upfront strategy approaches, and processes ability to insert their own to address these issues leading for rapid technology insertion. modules, continuous access to cost savings and avoidance Finally, the ONR Office of to the results and effects, and of non-trivial issues in system Innovation is pursuing ways to the encouragement to test architecture, contracting, harness input from technology early and often. The challenge ownership, and future users by hosting a Technology in increasing the speed of strategies for competitive Innovation Game and a Massive transition is to make the test- procurement. Multiplayer Online Wargame bed as similar as possible to the in 2011. These are just a few actual systems employed by In summary, enabling open Navy efforts that are currently the end user. This is essential innovation requires the underway to maximize open in preventing developers government to foster several business opportunities, from building their own ad components within the minimize the costs and hoc test-beds and thereby activities of open business, efforts associated with open guessing and fabricating the open architecture, and rapid architecture, and rapidly inject nuisances associated with technology insertion. This new technologies into the user processes, available effort goes far beyond simply hands of the warfighter.  12

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate THE INNOVATION IMPERATIVE Brian Clark – Strategy Branch Head, Navy Warfare Integration (N00X) k The last 100 years of naval with these drives. Only when Command and N00X are operations have seen the new MP3 player utilized coordinating an Innovation enormous change and these smaller hard drives did Council of Captains (ICoC) innovation. At sea, sail gave way the combination of technology where technologists, concept to steam, then nuclear power, and operational concept result developers, resource sponsors and now hybrid-electric drive. in innovation. and operators will gather Battleships went from capital monthly to review innovation The Navy has faced similar ships to supporting platforms, efforts and identify where new situations. The advent of while aircraft carriers became opportunities for improvement nuclear power in the 1940s the centerpiece of naval power exist. didn’t mean much until Hyman projection. A fleet of 140 ships Rickover worked to combine The ICoC will review concept in 1900 grew to more than it with submarine propulsion ideas as part of the CNO’s 6000 during World War II, only to allow indefinite submerged new Concept Generation and to shrink to less than 300 today. operations. The introduction Concept Development (CGCD) Meanwhile, sailors now spend of more powerful aircraft process. This process provides more time in the air or on shore engines in the 1920s didn’t a method for new warfighting than during the 1940s, as the revolutionalize warfighting ideas to be proposed by number of people in the Navy until the Navy tapped into that operators and technologists changed from less than 900 per power to allow aircraft to fly for direct consideration by ship to more than 1200 today. from the new flight deck of the the Navy’s four-star leaders. Each of these major changes USS Langley. Currently the ICoC is developing grew out of a combination the concept ideas approved by of technology and new Collaborate, or Fall Behind CNO in the Navy Strategic Plan operational or organizational for FY12, and in the future, the concepts. None were a function Today, the Navy must continue ICoC will review and develop of technology alone. We often to apply the technologies concepts generated from associated “innovation” with being developed at research throughout the fleet. new advancements like the facilities around the world to the operational challenges of In addition to creating a process personal computer, mobile today. This is only possible, for new concept ideas to be phone or iPad, but none of though, if technologists and generated and developed, we these innovations really took fleet operators communicate, must continue the effort begun off until there was a new way of collaborate and experiment by ONR to foster a wide variety operating that took advantage with their ideas. The Office of venues that highlight the of them. of Naval Research (ONR) confluence of technology and Clayton Christensen, in The aggressively pursues these operational art. For example, Innovator’s Dilemma, points interactions, and their efforts wargames have long been a this out using the example at “open innovation” will means by which operators think of the computer hard drive further increase opportunities through how they might solve industry. While hard drive for collaboration between a future operational challenge. manufacturers were able to operators, scientists, and By bringing these operators make smaller and smaller engineers. Turning collaboration together with technologists hard drives, their mainframe into innovation, though, will in an innovation game, we computer customers weren’t require support from the fleet can explore how science and interested in them because and the Pentagon. To help technology may address future they didn’t need small size and institutionalize a process for challenges when combined didn’t want the reduced storage t wa a ant r turning ideas into innovation, with new operational concepts and lower reliabili that came er reliability r ab b the Navy Warfare Development or principles. We in OPNAV are 13

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 working with ONR to conduct a Navy Technology make each of our fleet units able to impact larger Innovation Game within the next year. areas for longer periods of time while staying within future cost constraints. New technologies The Budget Dilemma such as laser weapons and improved electronic warfare will be essential to the combat credibility It is hard to read any national publication today of future flights of ships such as LCS or DDG- and not be assaulted by dire predictions for both 51 – an important attribute for ships that will federal budgets and the national debt. Secretary increasingly have to operate independently in Gates spoke emphatically at the Air-Sea-Space denied or uncertain environments. Symposium and Eisenhower Library in May 2010 about the need to contain costs, reduce overhead Shortchanging our science and technology and become better stewards of taxpayer money. investments will only make the future fleet less At the same time, the demands on naval forces able to provide the widely distributed, forward are growing and will continue to expand as our deployed combat capability required to address ground forces draw down in Iraq and Afghanistan. irregular and anti-access threats facing our nation. While our troops are resetting at home, naval We must ensure, though, these investments forces will be called upon to maintain stability continue to address areas that could be future and security in the Middle East, Pacific, Africa operational problems or technology surprises, and elsewhere. Innovation has a central role in while also serving national priorities for advancing both improving our efficiency in meeting these science and technology. Establishing the right demands and improving the credibility of the priorities and emphasis in research funding is forces the Navy and Marine Corps bring to bear. itself a collaborative effort, where operators, scientists and engineers must continue to work Efforts at corrosion control, automation, and so the next generation can benefit from the unmanned and remotely piloted systems will combination of technology and concept.  OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH MARKS 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF LASER TECHNOLOGY Article contributed by ONR Corporate Strategic Communications From scalpels to corrective conference that brought laser has an unlimited magazine eye-surgery to weapons, laser physicist-inventors together depth, precise speed-of-light technology has advanced from to brainstorm the technology capability and can engage scientific curiosity to scientific in 1959. ONR is proud of multiple targets. fact since receiving its patent the record of inventions and ONR also invested in the maser, on May 16, 1960. The Office of innovations in laser technology the precursor technology to Naval Research (ONR), which that spans the past 50 years. the laser, in the late 1940s-50s. has made investments in the One can only imagine what Researchers sought a means research and development we’ll sponsor in the next 50 of using short-wavelength of the laser, is joining the years.” radiation to investigate science community as it marks Researchers at ONR are molecular structure. The result the 50th anniversary of this applying laser technology in was the maser, or “microwave groundbreaking device. naval maritime defense. The amplification by stimulated “ONR’s contribution to the Navy and Marine Corps’ science emission of radiation.” Once invention of the laser is well and technology provider developed, researchers soon known,” said Dr. Lawrence is developing a laser that began work on the idea of Schuette, who heads ONR’s promises to change warfighting replacing microwaves with light. Office of Innovation. “We at sea. Planned for the Navy’s The laser and its numerous sponsored the Shawanga coming all-electric ship, the free commercial applications soon quantum electronics electron laser weapon system followed.  14

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate NWDC: NAVY’S CONCEPT GENERATION AND CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT (CGCD) PROGRAM RADM Wendi Carpenter – Commander, Navy Warfare Development Command r The Chief of Naval Operations changes and inform technology that exist and consider ways (CNO) established the Navy development. Our Navy is of using technologies that are Concept Generation and by nature a capital intensive, likely to exist. Concept Development platform-centric force. A Some concepts are (CGCD) Program in June 2008 cultural change is needed commonly referred to as to provide a collaborative to shift our focus to become “operational concepts.” This approach and structure for a capabilities-centric force. can be confusing. The term developing new Navy strategic Concepts provide a holistic “operational” refers specifically and operational concepts. approach to warfighting to the operational level of war, Commander, Navy Warfare integration that replaces sub- but is often used to describe Development Command optimal stovepipes. any type of military action. (NWDC) was designated CGCD identifies required We use the term “operating the Executive Agent for the capabilities throughout the concept” to refer to the program. Since the program spectrum of operations conduct of military action was established, NWDC has and provides a sound basis independent of the level of war. been increasingly engaged for investment decisions to An operating concept could be with the Office of Naval produce solutions across at the strategic, operational, or Research (ONR), partnering the Doctrine, Organization, tactical level. for wargames, analytical Training, Materiel, Leadership, studies, research, and potential Operating, functional, and Education, Personnel, and enabling concepts are also technology solutions to Facilities (DOTMLPF) spectrum, the military challenges and distinct from “concepts of while considering associated opportunities addressed in the operations.” A concept of risks and implications. operations (CONOPS) is concepts generated within the CNO’s program. NWDC’s efforts A concept is a notion or defined as “a verbal or graphic have the same goal: providing statement of an idea with an statement that clearly and the best affordable capabilities expression of how something concisely expresses what to the warfighters to prevent might be done – a visualization the Joint Force Commander wars or win the wars, if of future operations that intends to accomplish and how deterrence fails. describes how a commander, it will be done using available using military art and science, resources…” and it is often CGCD requires a frequent might employ capabilities associated with a specific dialogue and close partnership necessary to meet future warfighting scenario or theater. between organizations such challenges and exploit future as ONR and NWDC. NWDC’s opportunities. The primary Navy CGCD Program concepts address the needs of purpose of a concept is to the Fleet which inform ONR’s Processes envision new ways of operating, science and technology and the how the force can successfully The following figure provides research, development, test, conduct the described an overview of the basic CGCD and evaluation investments missions, and to define what process. It is important to to provide the requisite capabilities are required to deal recognize the three related, technology solutions to with today’s and tomorrow’s but separate and distinct improve naval warfighting. naval challenges and avail phases: concept generation, Concepts are about developing opportunities provided by concept development, and capabilities and the best way changes in the operating implementation of solutions. to employ them. They serve environment. It should describe The process is non-linear and as a basis to drive required new ways of using technologies highly flexible. 15

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 Concepts inform and support the Navy’s Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution process. Validated concepts provide valuable and defensible inputs for the development of the Navy Strategic Plan (NSP) and Navy Strategic Guidance (NSG) as well as the Navy Strategic Planning Process (NSPP). The NSP and NSG guides Navy investment decisions, identifies priorities, and critically examines risk in terms of missions. Concept Generation Phase Navy CGCD Program Processes The Concept Generation Phase starts with harvesting ideas that will potentially produce new • Changes in the operational feasibility of potential solutions. capabilities to address military environment In the last several years, challenges or opportunities. NWDC and ONR have been The process continues until • Changes in the potential threats closely aligned and partnered a full concept paper with in concept generation and potential DOTMLPF solutions development, helping to and a proposed action plan • Individual ideas / Fleet inputs shape research on potential are presented to the CNO for technology solutions. The his decision. This ensures that • Reality of fiscal constraints importance of this strategic concept development and the and collaborative approach commitment of the required The Concept Generation Phase cannot be underestimated. resources is undertaken is very much about research, Accordingly, there is an open only after the implications discovery, and defining the invitation for any organization and effects of implementing operational problem set, the to partner with NWDC and ONR the concept are identified challenges, the opportunities, to generate conceptual ideas and understood. Concept and the stakeholders and and drive rapid development generation can be initiated by their engagement. It requires of technology that will many sources such as (not an understanding the strategic and provide essential capabilities inclusive list): operational context as defined generated through the CNO’s • Capability shortfalls or by A Cooperative Strategy for CGCD Program. We shape the identified gaps produced 21stt Century Seapower (CS-21), Command goal of providing the by the NSP, NSG, NSPP and the Naval Operating Concept, t most effective and affordable other Navy higher authority and the applicable coalition, capabilities to the Fleet. planning processes joint, and Navy warfighting concepts and visions. It includes For more information about • Doctrine deficiencies the harvesting of ideas, the NWDC’s CGCD program and defining of warfighting gaps to contribute your innovative • Introduction of new with associated challenges or ideas, visit the NWDC website: capabilities / new opportunities to be addressed, http://www.nwdc.navy.mil/#  technology and the definition and exploration of the value and 16

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate INNOVATING TO PROTECT OUR FUTURE Gary Markovits – CEO, Innovation Business Partners, Inc. Jim Blesse – Innovation Business Partners, Inc. and ONR Office of Innovation The Navy’s innovation mission means augmenting what we Business Innovation Research, is broad and daunting. We do well today with new ideas, ONR Global engagements and must pursue revolutionary processes and tools that enable TechSolutions developments capabilities for future forces, us to leverage and benefit which either export problems mature and transition existing from the world’s investment in or import new technologies innovations, and respond to innovation. Open Innovation and CONOPS from an extended current critical needs. In the (OI) is just such a concept. innovation network. midst of these pursuits, we Innovation in its broadest Industry is facing an analogous must also maintain broad sense is the process by which challenge and in response they technology investments we generate new knowledge. have created a panoply of new to anticipate and counter It is the process by which we OI mechanisms embodied in potential disruptive innovations imagine a possible future state, companies such as NineSigma, from our enemies. use our science to prove it InnoCentive, YourEncore, In the future this mission possible and our technology MFG.com, Yet2.com and others. will become even more to make it feasible. More Unconstrained by the policies daunting if current trends pragmatically an innovation the Navy must conform to, such as the erosion of the is a novel and non-obvious they have created mechanisms U.S. manufacturing base and combination of technology focused on producing solutions the decline in our science, and concepts of operation in the shortest time at the technology, engineering and (CONOPS) that solve a problem. lowest cost. mathematics graduates is Historically those novel non- This produces two not reversed. Six years ago obvious combinations were opportunities for the Office we reached another tipping generated by the NRE’s network of Naval Research: one, find point. In 2004 more than half of researchers. But the NRE a way to use the commercial of the world’s investment in cannot employ every bright OI mechanisms to solve Navy research and development person in the world. What OI problems, and two, learn from happened outside of the U.S. seeks to do is either export our them and improve our own and our Patent and Trademark problems to outside research mechanisms to solve problems Office for the first time ever networks for solutions or to faster and deliver more value to granted more patents to foreign import from outside networks the warfighter. assignees than to Americans. the technologies and CONOPS Compounding all of this is OI is not a silver bullet. It is one that will enable us to solve the the pace of innovation which more weapon in the science problem. is growing exponentially. To and technology arsenal to help protect our freedom and to The Navy has been practicing us generate more value for remain a first class nation we methods of OI for a long our warfighters, protect our must increase our capacity for time through programs and freedom, and keep us a first innovation and this means we organizations such as the Broad class nation.  must innovate smarter, not Agency Announcements, Small harder. Innovating smarter does not mean abandoning our classic approach to innovation that has served us well. The scientists of the Naval Research Enterprise (NRE) are among the best in Naval S&T Problem Solving Process the world. Innovating smarter 17

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 | June 2010 UPCOMING ranging from web browsing to mobility patterns. Professor EVENTS Barabási will use mobile phone data to explore the patterns characterizing these temporal processes, leading us to the question of predictability in human activity patterns. To attend in person, please register at: https://secure. onr.navy.mil/events/regdetail. asp?cid=665&code=4 To stream the lecture LIVE starting at 1:00 pm EST and courtesy of Defense Media Activity, please visit the Armed with Science website: http:// will carry over including science.dodlive.mil/ Code and Director’s breakout rooms, Pitch-A-Principal ONR S&T Partnership appointments, the Exhibit Hall Conference – and our signature Information Spring 2010 Distinguished Exchange. During these varied Lecture Series: Final August 24th-26th collaborative opportunities, Lecture, June 28th, Mark your calendars for the attendees will meet Business 1:00 pm-2:30 pm Office of Naval Research (ONR) Opportunities staff and ONR Science and Technology (S&T) program officers to discuss Featuring Professor Albert- Partnership Conference at how to work with ONR and László Barabási, Center for the Hyatt Regency Crystal to exchange innovative ideas. Complex Network Research City, Virginia. The purpose Also, the Chief of Naval and Departments of Physics, of the conference is to Research (CNR) will continue Computer Science and Biology advance awareness of ONR’s the tradition of the CNR at Northeastern University, and S&T strategy, programs and Challenge, and issue a special the Department of Medicine at research initiatives; to present $1 million research challenge. Harvard Medical School S&T research challenges and Responses must be submitted Abstract of his lecture, From discuss possible solutions; to in person at the conference, so Networks to Human Activity broaden our S&T partnership please consider attending and Patterns: base; and to explore new ideas competing for one of the ten with academia, industry, and $100K grants. Highly interconnected networks government laboratories. with amazingly complex To attend, follow this topology describe systems Many of you attended the registration link: http://www. as diverse as the World Wide 2008 ONR S&T Partnership onr.navy.mil/Conference-Event- Web, our cells, social systems conference – the successful ONR.aspx  or the economy. Professor aspects from that conference Barabási will discuss the amazing order characterizing Did you miss the 2010 Navy Opportunity Forum? Visit our interconnected world and its implications to the website to see the narrative briefs, brochures, and network robustness and charts for more than 200 technologies developed by spreading processes. Most small businesses and funded by Navy’s Small Business of these networks are driven by the temporal patterns Innovation Research and Small Business Technology characterizing human activity, Transfer. http://www.navyopportunityforum.com 18

Vol. 5 | June 2010 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate DIRECTOR’S CORNER Larry Schutte, Ph.D. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) hosted (and watch this space for a potential expansion the second Open Innovation (OI) Summit on in Asia). Because of our international presence 19 and 20 May. During that two day summit, and interests we are able to look across the we had the opportunity to explore the OI globe for innovative capabilities to bring to the tools available to organizations as they try to Naval Warfighter. Honing our S&T portfolio with integrate new innovation principals into their OI tools is a straightforward proposition and one business processes. At the same time, we were that we are actively pursuing. able to explore how three companies (Eli Lilly, At the end of the OI Summit, I became even General Mills and Proctor and Gamble) came more convinced that we need our leadership to use OI tools, the results they have achieved, to communicate the value of innovation in and the lessons learned. While each company is concert and across the entire community large and distributed like the Navy, we have one responsible to our warfighters. The challenge fundamental difference: in the Navy, we don’t for the Department of the Navy is to break own the entire business model – the taxpayers down cultural barriers and stovepipes and do. While I am slightly jealous of the freedom work across the DOTMPLF communities. In this the private sector has in its ability to maximize issue of the newsletter we have reached out the business model through OI, I see real across the commands and people that we are opportunity for the Navy to leverage OI across teaming with in order to bring their perspective the DOTMPLF (Doctrine, Organization, Training, on this important issue to the forefront. As Materiel, Personnel, Leadership and Facilities). we move ONR and the Navy forward with the At ONR our main business function is to provide many initiatives outlined in this edition, I feel venture capital for Science and Technology confident that OI will bring us closer to the kind (S&T). We are a global organization with offices organization we hope to be.  in London, Singapore, Chile, Tokyo and Prague SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE Follow ONR on Twitter: USNavyResearch http://twitter.com/USNavyResearch Check out ONR on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/officeofnavalresearch ONR was the first DoD organization to stream video LIVE! Watch the ONR Distinguished Lecture Series and Innovation Summits LIVE via the Defense Media Activity’s Armed with Science website: http://science.dodlive.mil/ Watch ONR’s Distinguished Lecture Series after the Event! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHXD9MYDZHI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGHMM7erXGE

www.onr.navy.mil/innovate www.onr.navy.mil/innovate Vol. 5 5 | June 2010 Vol. | June 2010 Lawrence C. Schuette, Ph.D. Craig A. Hughes Director of Innovation Deputy Director of Innovation tel: 703-696-7118 tel: 703-696-3039 fax: 703-696-4065 email: craig.a.hughes@navy.mil email: larry.schuette@navy.mil schuetl@onr.navy.smil.mil Office of Naval Research One Liberty Center 875 North Randolph Street Suite 1425 Arlington, VA 22203-1995 www.onr.navy.mil/innovate

Office of Naval Research Innovation Newsletter | June 2010

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Office of Naval Research Innovation Newsletter | June 2010 — Document Transcript