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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

  • STEAM day fuels, inspires thousands

    MacDill Air Force Base opened its hangar doors for more than 2,300 students for the second annual Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) Day, March 8, 2019.

  • The 47th Dental Flight fills gaps in manning with innovation

    Much of the Air Force has at one point or another experienced what it’s like to be under-manned, and the Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas 47th Medical Group Dental Clinic is no exception.When there’s a never-ending push to see how much more can be accomplished by an ever smaller team, adaptation seems

  • Innovative solution reduces cost of runway repair

    After years of heating up in the summer and freezing in the winter, the North Base runway developed severe cracking and was closed in October 2016. Traditional repair methods such as sealing the cracks would only last a few months and full replacement would have cost $20 million. The 412th Civil

  • Innovation success: Reusable containers save thousands

    At the Joshua Tree Dining Facility, Styrofoam containers have been the container of choice for grabbing a meal on the go.Recently, the cost for these containers was set to increase from $8,000 per month to $24,000 per month as a result of an increase in price and usage. In the long run, these costs

  • USAF Spark Tank finalists, winner visit AFTAC

    Finalists from the 2019 Air Force Spark Tank competition visited the Air Force Technical Applications Center here March 1 to meet with members of the center’s Innovation Lab and observe how failure has led to success for the nuclear treaty monitoring organization.

  • New AFRL podcast goes behind the scenes

    From supersonic flight to GPS and space food, big developments come out of the Air Force Research Laboratory. The “Lab Life” podcast provides listeners insight into the fascinating work and lives of the people who lead the discovery, development and delivery of warfighting technologies for our air,

  • “Fire Pit” provides creative space, assistance to AETC innovators

    With an eye towards continuing development of a world-class culture of innovation, Air Education and Training Command officially opened the “Fire Pit” with a ribbon cutting ceremony here March 5. Mirrored to the wing level Spark Cell variant, the AETC Fire Pit is the major command’s effort to

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

How to Create a Culture of Innovation 

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

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CONTACT US

Chief Innovation Officer
Capt. John Kornahrens

Deputy Chief Innovation Officer
Mike Martinez

SEL/Lead Engineer
Master Sgt. Matthew Sabo

NCOIC

Tech. Sgt. Christopher Signoretti

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.