Scaling Bottom-Up Innovation with Captain Shawn Cooper

Captain Shawn Cooper, XVII Airborne Corps Innovation Officer, joins Bonnie Evangelista this week to talk about how the Corps is building connective tissue to support bottom-up innovation, scale soldier ideas, and integrate them with development partners across the DoD. He dives into managing soldiers’ time to innovate, maximizing your 20%, and identifying demand signals from your end users. Tune in to learn more about Shawn's journey and the exciting projects happening within the XVII Airborne Corps.

TIMESTAMPS:

(3:19) Shawn’s reputation as the “Apex Nerd”

(5:40) How Dragon’s Lair empowers problem-solving skills

(9:39) Using soldier-driven ideas as demand signals

(16:34) How to manage a soldier’s time to innovate

(17:04) The creation of the Innovation Officer Skill Identifier

(19:38) How to maximize the 20% that drives operational effectiveness

LINKS:

Follow Bonnie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-evangelista-520747231/

CDAO: https://www.ai.mil/

Tradewinds AI: https://www.tradewindai.com/