The Common Mission Project Task Force Report
One thing we can say with certainty about the world today: It’s constantly changing. In world powers, politics and alliances; technology and security; energy resources and requirements; healthcare capacity and priorities; the climate and environment; in natural disasters and humanitarian crises, change reigns. We live in a state of perpetual flux that has historically kept mankind reacting to survive. Rapid innovation, strategic partnership, purposeful risk taking, broad engagement and inclusive empowerment offer ways to improve the status quo.
At the Common Mission Project, we began the “Hacking For” series of academic programs as a way to kickstart collaboration and innovation across the government, the private sector and academia to confront the threat of inertia head on. This series of classes -- Hacking for Defense, Hacking for Oceans, Hacking for Diplomacy, and others -- teach students how to use modern innovation tools to address critical real-world issues at speed. Our mission from the start has been to keep those most directly linked to critical problem sets at center stage, and let their narrative be the driving force for a collaborative effort among the best and brightest students with the support of seasoned leaders within academia, defense, and the private sector. It’s an equation that works. The “Hacking For” classes draw students from a wide range of educational disciplines, from technology to healthcare to law, and have resulted in new startups that are developing solutions for real challenges and inspired a new generation of bright students to careers in public service.
Delivering a solution to stagnation is a popular concept, it turns out, especially among a community of progressive innovators, risk takers, game-changers and visionaries. The “Hacking For” programs have drawn so many like-minded people who believe in our mission and our potential, that we can claim a thriving and diverse Board of Advisors who help guide and grow our incredibly important work to tackle more of the world’s greatest concerns, one problem at a time. Our Board, comprising leaders across defense, academia, successful corporations, and proven small innovators, bring wide, compelling backgrounds, but they also share key common values. They each believe that our country and its allies can and must innovate now; they hold the knowledge of how to get us there; and each nurtures a solid belief that the “Hacking For” program is an unmistakably significant component to that success.
This report, collectively authored by our Board of Advisors, highlights the very deep and meaningful values that drove us to introduce this concept in the first place, to keep the free world on the cutting edge of advanced technologies, and to ensure that the most threatening challenges facing our generation are taken on proactively, strategically, and efficiently. Together we have an opportunity to grow and meet change head on, for the good of all. Areas outlined in the report are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to just how we can grow. They include: collaboration between the public and private sectors; increasing diversity, equity and inclusivity; raising training standards to reward critical thinking and allow for risk taking; improving interactivity between public service and academia; and breathing fresh life and external perspectives into stagnant defense acquisition processes.
I hope you’ll take a moment to read their perspectives.
The Talent Acquisition Value Proposition - Tom Nelson: Page 5
The Defense Innovation that No One is Talking About - Eric Snelgrove: Page 8
The DoD & Private Capital Markets - Chris Moran & Peter Krow: Page 10
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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Government - Curtis Valentine: Page 13
The Role of Leadership in Innovation Diffusion In Government Jack Shanahan: Page 16
Climate Technology Funding - Eric Perreca: Page 21
Setting Sail on Navy Innovation - Greg Glaros and France Hoang: Page 24
Conclusion - Alex Gallo: Page 27
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Peter A. Newell Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, The Common Mission Project?
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2 周Peter, thanks for sharing. interesting to know
Good report, Peter. Overall, there are passionate and smart folks trying to move the ball forward in a multitude of creative ways. I give a lot of credit and admiration for new programs like Hacker for Defense and the Air Force’s vision starting up AFWERX and AFVentures. However, new programs can not be the only thing we do; we need to demolish the old guard. Our US DoD and USG bureaucracy binds us to antiquated procurement and contracting processes. They need to be removed, changed and significantly modified with the mission to close innovation OODA loops faster and ultimately support kill chain processes for warfighters and warfighting units. I would have liked to see this report address one of the root probelms in our innovation ecosystem that no one likes to talk about: Transition rate of technology (e.g., How many new innovative products, solutions or services, specifically under a SBIR/STTR/competitive process, actually get picked up by the DoD as a contract and used or implemented by warfighters?). It’s a rhetorical question … because the answer is … still … “very few.” We have “people” executing this process now and should put our energy into this population of patriots vice focusing on the next good idea.