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Welcome!

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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!

 

Air Force Innovation ARticles

  • Spark Tank competition kicks off Innovation Month

    SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- A new round of the annual Spark Tank competition is set for March 4, kicking off Scott’s Month of Innovation initiatives.Spark Tank is a funding competition that gives Airmen an opportunity to pitch ideas to base leadership. The 375th Air Mobility Wing held its last

  • Scott celebrates March as Month of Innovation

    SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- To key in on implementing innovative strategies and increasing mission effectiveness, Scott Air Force Base is celebrating March of 2019 the "Month of Innovation.""To maintain technical and tactical advantages, the Air Force must adapt and innovate," said Col. Leslie

  • Industry gets schooled on MDC2

    Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, projected its quiet power during the Multi-Domain Command and Control (MDC2) Industry Day, Feb. 20, at the Minuteman Educational Center, according to speaker Eileen Vidrine, the Air Force's chief data officer.

  • ‘Spark Tank’ competition ignites innovative ideas

    Tinker Air Force Base’s Spark Tank Competition on Feb. 1 at the Tinker Club featured four individuals or groups, known as “sparkers,” who vied for $110,000 in 72nd Air Base Wing Innovation Funds for the best idea to help the Air Force become more innovative as it addresses its mission to “Fly, Fight

  • Air Force awards $739M launch service contracts

    The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office, awarded two Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) launch service contracts Feb. 19.

  • AFWERX hosts AETC, others in problem-definition workshop

    The AFWERX Austin hub, in collaboration with Lean Six Sigma Black Belts from Air Education and Training Command and subject matter experts from Defense Innovation Unit, hosted a problem-definition workshop for military stakeholders in the personnel recovery career field Feb. 5 - 6, 2019.

  • MD5 Boot Camp inspires Airmen-driven innovation

    JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – During an intensive workshop recently hosted by the 673d Air Base Wing, 40 innovators were given the opportunity to join the largest collaborative community of national security visionaries in the world.

  • Columbus AFB Spark Cell shares best practices with Tinker AFB Airmen

    The Columbus Air Force Base Spark Cell is leading the way across the Air Force for what an innovation lab should be, so much so, that a team from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, visited Columbus AFB Feb. 13 to gain insight of how to develop a spark cell at their base.

  • Little Rock AFB Airman innovation saves $750K

    At Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, the 19th Maintenance Group back shop was assigned an additional task of overhauling C-130J ramp actuators, which are responsible for locking and unlocking the ramp during ground and air operations. In order to overhaul an actuator, a safety fixture is

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 3D printing class!

 

Newsletter

Click HERE for Elevate's monthly newsletter

CONTACT US

Chief Innovation Officer
(vacant) 

Deputy Chief Innovation Officer
Mike Martinez

SEL/Lead Engineer
Master Sgt. Matthew Sabo

Innovation Specialist
Staff Sgt. Brad Vickers

Contact Us
Email: 375amw.safb.elevate@us.af.mil
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?

Please send any innovative ideas or service requests to us via our intake form found at the below QR Code & link.