NASA Headquarters (HQ) Innovation Ecosystem

NASA Headquarters (HQ) Innovation Ecosystem Information Technology and Communications Directorate (ITCD) August 2011

Agenda • What is Innovation? • Assessment Approach • Components of Innovation Ecosystem • (In)novations • innovate.nasa.gov • Technology Focus Areas • Stakeholder Engagement • Future Development Activities • Q&A

During this presentation and throughout the IT Summit, please tweet your thoughts with the following hashtags… • #nasaIT – the official hashtag for the IT Summit • #nasainnovation – the official hashtag for the Innovation Ecosystem Filename/RPS Number

The word “Innovation” has been used extensively by leadership as a way to promote unique thinking and new ideas across the scientific community… “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world…The first step in winning the future is encouraging American innovation.” – President Barack Obama "We need to change our mindset and the way we work together to have our people start thinking of NASA not just as a collection of incredible missions but as a developer of the innovative technology that helps drive our nation’s economy…” – Mr. Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator “On the one hand, technology is making things simpler for us, but the pace of innovation and the pace of our communications and relationships are getting faster and faster.” – Dr. Bobby Braun, Office of the Chief Technologist

…but what does the word “Innovation” mean within NASA? • There have been hundreds of books published on innovation, resulting in a myriad of perspectives on what innovation is to Industry and the Federal Government • For purposes of this briefing we define the term ‘technology innovation’ as: “Using existing technology in new ways or highlighting emerging and/or cutting-edge technology to facilitate mission success” • To successfully achieve the above requires mechanisms for enabling NASA to best encourage, share and collaborate together for solutions to drive innovation across the Agency and it’s partners • NASA HQ ITCD determined that an assessment of the Agency’s ability to innovate was required in order to determine the most effective approach for positioning NASA to achieve holistic technology innovation Filename/RPS Number

Innovation at NASA is often a product of collaboration across a vast network of formal and informal relationships between the Private Sector, Government, interest groups and Universities • Though a 2009 GAO Report indicated that NASA had implemented internal procedures and governing practices to mitigate duplication of technology development, anecdotal evidence suggested that collaboration is still very much dependent upon individual intervention With many of these relationships cultivated and managed by a singular NASA employee, the complexity of defining NASA’s relationships becomes even more challenging to define and leverage to drive innovation R&D and Universities Public Sector Interest Groups Private Sector

As a result of stakeholder interviews, ITCD concluded that NASA’s focus on missions created stovepipes that impacted the Agency’s ability to share and collaborate regarding innovation and emerging technologies • Over 25 stakeholder interviews were conducted with leadership and personnel across the NASA HQ organization to determine the extent of NASA’s current methods of innovation management and collaboration • Interview comments indicated that there were opportunities for synergy across functional disciplines that could promulgate innovation • Interview data suggests that relationships within NASA are primarily established through contracts and missions, where the short-term “partnership” between two individuals is tactically-based and tailored for a specific purpose • The primary issue regarding relationship building is based on the differences between individual and institution relationships, where individual-to-individual are more clearly defined than organization-to-organization Interview count per NASA Agency Directorate – November 2010

Further analysis indicated that while there are existing processes for supporting idea generation and collaboration, these processes were not integrated in a way that provided transparency and easy, open information sharing • Using interview data and best practices from industry, ITCD modeled an “Innovation Lifecycle” architecture that depicts the process of innovating at NASA • While the processes of technology incubation through implementation are well defined, integrated and actively managed by OCT, CTO and the OCIO communities, existing processes across the “Ideation” and “Collaboration” phases of the NASA Innovation Lifecycle lack integration • The following are a few examples of the types of existing processes within NASA that support the above two phases of the Innovation Lifecycle… NASA Innovation Lifecycle Scaling and Optimization Integration and Implementation Incubation and Prototyping Collaboration Ideation Where ideas are formed… Where synergies are identified… Where the tech is further developed… Where the tech is optimized for NASA… Where the tech is injected into the Missions… Filename/RPS Number

The following are a small subset of the types of existing processes that support the “Ideation” and “Collaboration” phases of the lifecycle… NASA Innovation Lifecycle Scaling and Optimization Integration and Implementation Incubation and Prototyping Collaboration Ideation • These existing processes are effective at performing their function and independently facilitate innovative ideas • To drive holistic innovation, NASA requires a way to collectively leverage these processes together to efficiently: • Manage NASA’s innovation pipeline growth • Bring together the most appropriate subject matter experts from across NASA at the right time to drive early adoption Technology Communities NASA @ Work Initiative Mission Directorate Needs Executive Councils Technology Research Grants NASA Formal Working Groups NASA Informal Working Groups Centennial Challenges Prizes External Committees SBIR/STTR NASA Communities of Excellence NASA Communities of Practice InnoCentive Challenge Results Enterprise Architecture Findings Professional Societies Center Innovations Funds Filename/RPS Number

ITCD hypothesized that transforming this informal relationship network and supporting processes into a more transparent, interactive and collaborative structure would better facilitate the process of innovation at NASA Develop an interactive, collaborative platform… Opportunities for Innovation Internal-NASA Innovation Sources Leveraging and cultivating existing relationships between NASA and external partners 1 Identify opportunities for re-use across technologies beyond original functional design or intent 2 Connect scientists and technologists together that is agnostic of geography, function or organization External Sources of Innovation 3 Private Sector Public Sector Involve scientists and technologist dynamically to actively submit, discuss and collaborate on new ideas …for bringing together technologists and innovators to drive innovation across NASA 4 Interest Groups R&D and Universities

Based on this hypothesis, ITCD initiated the development of an end-to-end immersive approach to innovation through the development of an Innovation "Ecosystem" 2 innovate.nasa.gov 1 3 NASA Innovation Ecosystem Technology Focus Areas (In)novations 4 Stakeholder Engagement The NASA Innovation Ecosystem is not one singular solution, but a composite of several transformational components that collectively support innovation across NASA with a focus on cross-cutting technology and advanced cross-cutting information technology supporting infrastructure

The most visible aspect of the Ecosystem, (In)novations provides a tangible demonstration of emerging technologies that can prompt new dialogue and interaction • (In)novations is a physical area at NASA HQ for display of emerging technologies and an area for collaboration • The showcase enables innovation at NASA by providing a tangible demonstration of how innovation and technology injection at NASA can work and interact with stakeholders (In)novations Capabilities (In)novations provides a means to interact with emerging technology, discuss technologies on display with colleagues and others, and spark the imagination for uses beyond the original intent

To-date, several vendors from across the country have participated in the (In)novations Showcase, demonstrating their technologies to a NASA employees within a new venue • Vendors now have an single point of entry to demo, discuss, receive feedback and expand the use of their developed technologies within NASA beyond both their core customers and even the perceived uses of the technologies…at virtually no cost to NASA SansEC Uses magnetic fields to induce power and make determinations about the conditions being monitored without using electrical connections Emotive EPOC A neuroheadset based on the latest in neuro-technologies Infrascanner A hand-held, non-invasive, near-infrared (NIR) based mobile imaging device to detect brain hematoma at the site of injury Performance Status Monitoring A sensor system that tracks a user’s vital statistics such as heart rate, EKG, breathing rate, surface body temperature, activity level, posture, and exertion levels and then streams the data in real-time Briefcam A video analytics technology designed to mitigate the amount of time required to review recordings

The NASA HQ (In)novationsis the first in a series of showcases across the NASA centers, comprising a network that highlights mission technologies, prototypes and concepts • Centers are encouraged to build their own showcases to expand the reach of technology sharing • Pilot between NASA HQ and Booz Allen underway to determine repeatable approach for expanding the network across NASA and other external organizations (e.g. DARPA) Benefits of Technology and Innovation Network • As additional Technology Showcases are established the network expands allowing further collaboration between Centers and missions • The Network will act as a library allowing for internetwork loans of physical technology • Space reserved to display NASA technology innovation award winners and innovative results of STEM partnerships Example of Potential Agency Technology Exchange Network Example of Inter-Organizational Technology Exchange Network Notional Technology & Innovation Network Filename/RPS Number

As a companion to the Innovation Showcase, innovate.nasa.gov was developed to virtualize the Technology Showcase and provide a means for online collaboration and discussion • innovate.nasa.gov augments the information available to visitors in the physical showcase and serves as a virtual information sharing and collaboration platform • The platform is open to all innovation partners…including NASA employees, educational institutions, other Government agencies and Industry Connection to (In)novations showcase Innovation and Technology Facilitation Enterprise 2.0 Capabilities (In)novation Partners (In)novations Technology Focus Areas Collaboration and Networking

While the Platform provides an avenue for viewing and discussing new technologies, active participation by technology communities will be critical to driving innovation within the Ecosystem NASA Technology Focus Area Framework • Technology Focus Areas (TFAs) will form the basis for determining the opportunities, relevance, application and interest in emerging technologies introduced within innovate.nasa.gov and the (In)novations showcase • Utilizing existing communities of interest within the Agency and the the Office of the Chief Technologists (OCT) Space Technology Roadmap (2011) taxonomy, approximately 16 mission-technology driven TFAs will be established within the Innovation Ecosystem OCT Space Technology Roadmap Taxonomy Listing Technology Focus Area Examples Robotics Enabling Information Technology Nanotechnology Landing Systems Active participation by the Technology Focus Areas is a critical success factor to the overall health of the Innovation Ecosystem, to be facilitated by engaging with stakeholders in the following ways… Filename/RPS Number

Finally, underpinning the success of the Ecosystem is to actively engage stakeholders within and external to NASA using an overarching governance plan • The establishment of an overarching governance process is essential towards bringing together NASA and external stakeholders, engaging them the criticality of innovation across mission technology, and sustaining the Innovation Ecosystem Stakeholder Engagement Internally Focused Externally Focused NASA Stakeholder Engagement NASA Innovation Partners Maintaining engaged stakeholders and leadership who are actively participating, influencing and sustaining the innovation pipeline Identifying, managing and sustaining and evolving critical technology relationships outside of NASA The above supports NASA’s overarching innovation governance, which can be leveraged for facilitating interactions, requesting directed research to further a specific field, teaming on missions, and discovering innovation early in its lifecycle Filename/RPS Number

In conclusion, there is a great amount of excitement, buy-in and success stories already generated through the development of the Innovation Ecosystem…and more is on it’s way Major milestones of the Innovation Ecosystem reached to date include… (In)novations Showcase Design Completed (In)novations Showcase is under construction at NASA HQ Initial set of technology vendors are on display at the IT Summit temporary showcase Vendors Secured for Showcase Launch Innovate.nasa.gov Website Developed innovate.nasa.gov website has been developed and ready for deployment …next steps include the launch of the NASA Technology and Innovation Advisory Council, the first refresh of technologies within the (In)novations Showcase and innovate.nasa.gov website, and expansion of the Showcase network Filename/RPS Number

As part of the 2011 NASA IT Summit, ITCD is providing a demonstration of the (In)novations Showcase and platform… Get (In)! …we encourage participants to interact with the (In)novation Showcase and innovate.nasa.gov website and provide feedback as to how these tools can continue to support the Agency

For more information about the NASA HQ Innovation Ecosystem Program, please contact the following… National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration Victor Thompson Deputy Chief Information Officer Information Technology and Communications Directorate (ITCD) Brady Decker Chief Technology Officer Information Technology and Communications Directorate (ITCD) NASA Headquarters 300 E Street SW Washington, DC 20546-0001 NASA Headquarters 300 E Street SW Washington, DC 20546-0001 202.358.7220 victor.thompson-1@nasa.gov 202.358.2520 brady.w.decker@nasa.gov www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov Jill A.C. Hardash Senior Associate Richard Summers Associate Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc. Pacific Concourse Drive Los Angeles, CA Tel (310) 297 1827 hardash_jill@bah.com Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc. Pacific Concourse Drive Los Angeles, CA Tel (310) 297 5539 summers_richard@bah.com

Agenda • Overview of NASA HQ Innovation Ecosystem • Assessment Approach • Components of Innovation Ecosystem • (In)novations • innovate.nasa.gov • Technology Focus Areas • Stakeholder Engagement • Future Development Activities • Q&A

Questions?

NASA Headquarters (HQ) Innovation Ecosystem