5/22/24: Innovation is not a noun, a refresh for an innovation institution; one agency’s transformation journey begins with an assessment

All the military services, and pretty much the whole federal government, says they’re looking for innovative solutions. The hang-up can be what “innovation” actually means to each organization. Lt. Col. David Brewer (USAF) is Total Force Integration Liaison in the Disruptive Technology Division at Air Force Futures Center 3 Integration and Innovation. At the Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference, he tells me why innovation isn’t a noun, and why he thinks people are using the term incorrectly.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is fresh off the celebration of its 50th anniversary. One of the tools it’s provided to agencies is the Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations. The table came out of a working group ACT-IAC’s Institute for Innovation put together. Jim Cook is Chair of the Institute. At the Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference, he tells me the institute is expanding its focus from just creating connections.

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service is on what it calls a transformation journey, like a lot of other federal agencies. BFS is engaging its employees, and the federal organizations it serves, to guide that journey. Joe Gioeli is Deputy Commissioner of Transformation and Modernization at BFS. At the Emerging Tech and Innovation Conference, he tells me that journey began with what the agency calls a Future Readiness Assessment.

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