The Center for Technology, Research and Commercialization (C-TRAC) Supporting Air Force CyberWorx Announces: US Air Force Smart Bases Design Project
Colorado Springs – The Air Force’s CyberWorx program at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), working in cooperation with the Center for Technology, Research and Commercialization (C-TRAC), will be hosting two semester-long design sprints for the upcoming Fall term. These events will be held at USAFA and will provide industry members an opportunity to collaborate with both cadets and Air Force leadership. One of these projects will focus on incorporating smart technologies into the Air Force’s Information Technology ecosystem, which aims to improve the quality of life and mission effectiveness for Airmen and cadets (Short name: #AFSmartBases-2).
The #AFSmartBases-2 project will experiment with employing a variety of smart internet technologies to design improvements on six potential areas at the Colorado Springs, CO, base: cadet academics, athletics, health & wellness, military training & readiness, scheduling/time management, and security & accountability. This project offers the opportunity for external partners to better develop Air Force-relevant solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) and potential future Air Force Smart Base applications across the military service.
#AFSmartBases-2 offers intriguing challenges to all those who are interested in participating. Air Force Chief of Staff, General Goldfein, has made it a service priority to use data and technologies to improve the lives and mission performance of Airmen working in Air Force squadrons across the service. No matter what the mission, data analytics and technology should be enabling Airmen to make the best decisions and perform their missions effectively.
Julie Karbo, founder and CEO of Karbo Communications, articulated an relevant perspective on the idea of IoT in her article titled, The Internet of Influence: “Artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things are trending in the news based on their ability to gather unprecedented amounts of information throughout the world and even outperform the human mind on certain tasks. Both gather intelligence and automate billions of tasks to ultimately improve the quality of our lives. While it’s easy to become infatuated with the visionary products that promise to be born of these technologies — flying cars that whisk us to work, robotic implants that will improve our physical performance, and cyborg personal assistants that anticipate our every need. Ultimately, they deliver a better understanding of the people and things in our world and remove the boundaries that affect reach and influence, be they physical or emotional. To this end, how can we ensure we exercise the perfect balance between automation and the human touch?”
CyberWorx, known for taking a “design thinking” approach to solving Air Force cyber problems, sees the first step as very human and not machine-like approach: introspection. What are we trying to accomplish with technology and data analytics? There’s always a danger of letting technology get be the driver, rather than mission performance and the needs of the humans performing those missions. The goal is to make their lives better and learn how we can replicate this impact across the service to help us perform our missions better.
Industry members and academic leaders who wish to contribute to this collaborative, semester-long design sprint are encouraged to begin the process by contacting the Center for Technology, Research and Commercialization (C-TRAC) at info@c-trac.org. Benefits of participating include interfacing with Air Force Academy cadets, Air Force leaders and stakeholders, building relationships and partnerships with other commercial industries, and providing recommendations for implementing and experimenting with commercial products and solutions and data analytics techniques for the Air Force enterprise.
C-TRAC is a 501(c)(3) located on the Catalyst Campus in Colorado Springs supporting the vision of CyberWorx by partnering industry with the CyberWorx program for the facilitation of technology transfer and transition. Air Force CyberWorx is the Air Force’s cyber innovation center located at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The CyberWorx vision is to unlock the power of people to unleash the power of cyberspace for America’s Air Force. CyberWorx accelerates operational advantages by moving toward a simpler, more intuitive and agile Air Force created by Airmen and industry innovators.