Innovation has driven Harris' success

I’m often asked how Harris – one of the world’s longest thriving technology companies – has sustained its legacy of innovation for nearly 125 years.

While there is no single formula for successful innovation, our legacy stems from an innovation culture built around three key elements – talent, investment and recognition.  

Our 7,700 engineers and scientists – who make up 45 percent of our total employment base – routinely push boundaries and find answers to our customers’ toughest problems. These talented technologists have introduced many industry-first solutions, and they are the cornerstone of our success. We have stepped up our efforts to recruit the next generation of innovators and this year we set a record for new college graduate hires – 3x the number we hired five years ago and 80 percent of which are engineers.

To help fuel innovation, Harris invests an industry leading 5-plus percent of revenues in research and development, creates advanced facilities that promote collaboration, and supports initiatives to foster talent.

We annually celebrate National Engineers Week (EWeek) and bi-annually conduct a company-wide Tech Expo to showcase innovations and foster collaboration.

Each year, we honor outstanding individuals and teams of engineers and scientists whose remarkable work stands out from the pack. The Harris Fellow is the company’s highest recognition for engineering and technical achievement, and we have named 26 Fellows since the award was established in 2000. Just last week, we honored a team of scientists and engineers with the Harris Board of Directors Technology Innovation Award for their significant contributions to a new end-to-end mission solution in the space domain.

I recently participated in reviews where teams presented their enterprise-wide technology roadmaps. It was an inspiring day – listening to Harris men and women who are laser-focused on our customers’ missions describe how to design technologies that are faster, lighter, more intelligent and more cost effective. I am confident that our customers will be able to depend on our people and their ideas to power another 125 years of innovation.