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What can we do to help you?

  • In-House  
    Assist and collaborate with your Airmen to identify a problem set (generate problem statement) & develop solutions in-house.
     
  • Collaborative Research  
    Connect Airmen with AFWERX, DoD, or consultant to further develop/accelerate project to solutions. 
     
  • Knowledge Exchange   
    Furnish your Airmen with academic opportunities for individual or organizational learning. 
     
  • SIF Management 
    Provide guidance to squadrons to meet CSAF intent and assist with squadron innovation funds supporting projects. 
     
  • SBIR Collaboration  
    Partnering with AFWERX to pair up your pain points with startups who can provide the solutions. 

Elevate Office

Educate explore exploit


INTRO TO 3D PRINTING
Are you interested in 3D printing and looking for a practical and compact entry-level course, but don't feel like reading or searching for information? Then this course is well suited for you! In this workshop you will learn all the basics you need to know in order to operate a 3D printer and create your own 3D printed objects. Start now with this professional, descriptive and step-by-step 3D printing tutorial, made by Elevate’s Chief Maker!  Sign up now!

102 PAINSTORMING SESSION
Combining the best of Stanford University’s D-School, the Think Wrong system, and US Military doctrine, this session will lead a small group through topic selection, context mapping, problem identification, and operational approach planning in a classroom environment in order to empower mission space owners to innovate from within. Attendees should expect to propose topics to tackle and to actively work through a process to tackle it. Leaders should expect to get back “solutioneers” able to lead painstorming sessions at the unit level, both formally and informally, to drive innovation to the point of mission accomplishment. Sign up now!

HACKING FOR DEFENSE
We want to solve your toughest challenges during the fall 2021 semester of Hacking for Defense (H4D). This program is sponsored by the DoD's National Security Innovation Network. We will match your problem with the university best suited to work for you. Graduate student teams will spend 500 hours leveraging innovative techniques from the private sector to solve your complex and critical problems at no cost to you. Past solutions have addressed challenges ranging from a soldier family readiness app, to an F/A-18E Super Hornet (jet fighter) predictive maintenance model, and even a software/hardware test bed for nuclear detection systems. The deadline for challenge submissions is June 4, 2021.  Apply here: www.h4d.us/submit-a-problem  Background: www.h4d.us/

Air Force Innovation ARticles

  • U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Katherine Street, 355th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle operator, receives packages for delivery at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Dec. 14, 2016. Once supplies are delivered to the installation, LRS distributes them to individual units across the base allowing supplies to be readily available. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ashley N. Steffen)

    Thinking outside of the box: 355th LRS enhances deliveries using Wi-Fi

    The 355th Logistics Readiness Squadron devised a new method that has changed its efficiency of delivering supplies to more than 250 organizations. The approach of tracking deliveries through Wi-Fi developed when 355th LRS personnel discovered they were spending too much time finding signatures that were dropped on account of the outdated system.
  • Storage shelves stand empty in a staging area at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., Oct. 3, 2016. The wing records managers digitized their 1,700 square foot staging area over the past two years, freeing up the necessary storage to house future accountability of equipment received. (Courtesy Photo)

    MacDill communications squadron prepare for tech refresh

    The 6th Communications Squadron recently renovated, re-vitalized, and reinvented their information technology asset management office to ensure the accountability of information technology assets and better prepare for technology refreshes.
  • Zach Demers, an aerospace engineer, demonstrates the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) in an F-16 flight simulator at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, April 18. Auto GCAS, which constantly compares the aircraft's speed and position to a digital terrain map and will automatically take control if it detects an imminent ground collision, is credited with saving the lives of four pilots. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Brian Ferguson)

    Point of Recovery: Ground Collision Avoidance System saving pilots lives

    Frantic calls of “Two recover, Two recover, Two recover,” echoed across the airwaves. Maj. Luke O’Sullivan, F-16 Fighting Falcon instructor pilot, watched helplessly from his cockpit as his student’s jet descended from an altitude of over 3 miles to under 4,400 feet in a matter of seconds. While executing a more than 8-G turn, the over 1,000 pounds of pressure had drained the blood from the student’s brain, causing tunnel vision and impairing his ability to rationalize. Within seconds, he was a victim of gravity-induced loss of consciousness. Given the rapid rate of descent, O’Sullivan knew there was no way the pilot could regain consciousness in time to pull out of the free fall. In less than four seconds, his student would be dead — except, he didn’t die. Instead, the essentially pilotless F-16 rolled upright, pulled a 5-G climb and then leveled off. The pilot’s savior: a technology developed in the 1980s known as the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System.
  • Staff Sgt. Monique McCoy, 70th Operations Support Squadron, wing mission training flight program manager, holds the board game portion of the Blue Talon training program. The mission training flight worked with a contractor to develop a program that could enable signals intelligence Airmen to gain an air operations mindset. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Veronica Pierce)

    Blue Talon, developing future crypto leaders

    Technology is always changing and so is the way we adapt and learn. The 70th Operations Support Squadron, wing mission training flight, sought new ways to motivate and enable Airmen at the wing to gain an air operations mindset.
  • Continuous Process Improvement courses are being offered to individuals with innovative ideas to more efficiently complete the Air Force’s everyday missions. If you have an innovative idea call the 366th Force Support Squadron Manpower/CPI team for more information or to schedule classes at 208-828-1454 or the Inspector General’s Office at 208-828-4047. (Courtesy Photo by AF CPI)

    Gunfighters seek innovation through CPI

    The 366th Force Support Squadron manpower team is leading courses to find innovative ways to maximize resources and increase efficiency in areas concerning people, money and time.

  • Around the Air Force: Nov. 29

    On this look around the Air Force the commander of Air Combat Command visits deployed Airmen, the Berlin Airlift Memorial is reopened, and a specialized stretcher for traumatic brain and spinal injury patients is being tested.
  • Airman 1st Class Patrick Stone, 37th Airlift Squadron loadmaster, poses in front of a C-130J Super Hercules at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Nov. 17, 2016. Stone, along with wingman Staff Sgt. James Gaston, 37th AS loadmaster, worked together on creating a new repair program within their unit, which salvages usable parts from non-functional headsets to create complete units. In the first iteration of their program, Gaston and Stone were able to assemble nine fully-functional headsets from individual components, thus reducing the number of new headsets needing to be purchased. Together, they saved the Air Force $8,100. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Lane T. Plummer)

    Team Ramstein embraces innovation

    Team Ramstein is embracing its culture of innovation by putting a new way to inspect its units and Airmen into action.

  • AFRL program turns junior workforce into rapid innovators

    Junior force personnel within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate are making the most of their opportunity to showcase innovation and leadership skills through the Junior Force Warfighters Operations in RX, or JFWORX, program.
  • Tech. Sgt. Vanessa Arthur, 59th Medical Wing Gateway Innovation Center NCO in charge, listens to patient at the Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center atrium on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Nov. 9, 2016. The wing’s Gateway Innovation team started the three-day campaign in an effort to solicit feedback directly from patients. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Jerilyn Quintanilla)

    59th Med Wing poses question: ‘If you ran Wilford Hall for a day, what would you change?’

    Eager and dedicated to perfecting the patient experience, the 59th Medical Wing is going straight to patients and asking, “If you ran Wilford Hall for a day, what would you change?”
  • Master Sgts. Alex and Mike, 1st Flying Training Squadron Remotely Piloted Aircraft Initial Flight Training student, pose after completing an Air Force first enlisted solo flight on a Diamond DA-20 at Pueblo Memorial Airport, Pueblo, Colorado Nov. 3, 2016. Today the first enlisted pilot class students took their first solo flight instruction during the 1st FTS training. RPA IFT includes 41 hours of classroom training and 21 hours of pilot training and officer development. (U.S. Air Force digital image by Staff Sgt. Cory Payne)

    First two enlisted pilots complete solo flights

    Two Air Force master sergeants became the first enlisted Airmen in six decades to complete solo
RSS

Motivation

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

TED Radio Hour: Failure Is An Option

Difference Between Innovation and Invention

Why Innovation is Crucial to Your Organization

What Really Makes Something Innovative?

How Leaders Inspire Innovation

 

Leader's inspiration

"...We have to think about the technology and the innovation that we need 10 to 15 to 20 years from now. We have to start thinking about it and start building it right now." - CMSAF Kaleth O. Wright 

"Innovative Airmen find better ways of doing the mission... Their intrapreneurship makes us more lethal, more efficient — they must be supported by leaders who not only remove unnecessary barriers to success, but who also lift up and champion their ideas... And because we’ve shown them we believe in their ideas, I want them to keep swinging until we find the answer." - Gen David L. Goldfein 

"Innovation doesn’t happen by accident. It is fueled from a spirit of experimentation and driven by Airmen with the best training, the right tools, and a workplace environment that promotes innovation. The threat and environmental challenges presented by our adversaries require that we aggressively investigate mission-focused ideas involving machine learning, artificial intelligence, autonomy, big data analytics... AMC will make bold investments in innovation that increase readiness and posture AMC forces to remain effective in a fast-paced and challenging future." - Gen Maryanne  Miller 

“We are at the beginning of a big culture shift in the government. We woke up and said we are not the only funder or inventor of new technology anymore…we are a partner with those who do.” – Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics 

Take a class!

Sign Up here 

CONTACT US

Chief Innovation Officer
Maj. Adam Wallace

Deputy Innovation Officer
1st Lt. Thomas Goetze 

NCOIC
TSgt. Richard Durling

Chief Maker
TSgt. Brandon Barnes

Contact Us
Email: Elev8scott@gmail.com 
Phone: 618-256-4802

Where are we located?
The lab is located on the second floor of the Warmer Fitness Center.


Elevate is an Airmen-led innovation office focused on connecting our Airmen's problems to those in industry, academia or government. 
We work closely with AFWERX, the Secretary of the Air Force's innovation arm, and the main conduit for executing Small Business Innovation
Research, or SBIR, funds for the Air Force.

Elevate is a grassroots innovation program whose mission is to bring tomorrow’s tools to the warfighter today while inspiring a bottom‐up culture of innovation. We create unique opportunities for external partners to work directly with military on interesting problems, which also allows for rapid fielding solutions. 

Have an idea?

Send us an email with the information below, and we'll take a look at your idea!"

  • Name 
  • Rank 
  • Mil email 
  • Phone number 
  • What is your idea?