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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

  • FUEL TANK: Team MacDill turns ideas into reality

    The 6th Air Mobility Wing commander, Col. April Vogel, hosted the first Fuel Tank event at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, June 27, 2018. Fuel Tank, much like the Air Force’s Spark Tank competition, called upon Airmen to pitch their innovative ideas to 6th AMW leadership.

  • Contracting Airman develops program, joins Kessel Run

    In today’s war fighting efforts, innovation is a key component when it boils down to who comes out on top. That is why ground-breaking and out-of-the-box thinking is promoted and needed from all levels of personnel.Airman 1st Class Maxwell Lehmann, 2nd Contracting Squadron specialist, has been a

  • AFWERX’s innovation strengthens perimeter security

    Approximately 75 military members, small businesses, entrepreneurs and academia innovators presented technology designs to address Air Force perimeter security issues, at the inaugural AFWERX Fusion Xperience June 20 and 21 at the Enclave in downtown Las Vegas.

  • LION Board roars innovation

    Innovation is a subject you might hear about a lot in today’s Air Force. Often, discussions about innovation get a bit complicated. So, the 363d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing has found a way to simplify unleashing the wing’s most important resource, Airmen, and their great

  • Wing progress fueled by innovation

    157th Air Refueling Wing leadership has tapped into the minds of its airmen, a think tank for new ideas, as part of a local push of an Air Force innovation program.

  • Guardsman thinks outside the box to achieve goals

    Tech. Sgt. Robert Florence, a member with the 178th Wing, grew up watching his parents renovate homes. Florence bought his first home at just 20 years old, and discovered his passion for finding potential in properties that others neglected.

  • Airman innovates site to save money

    U.S. Air Force Airmen assigned to Joint Base Langley-Eustis launched a system April 2 to move assets from unit to unit, saving the U.S. Air Force money and reducing cluttered storage areas.

  • NATO focuses on big data and artificial intelligence

    Members of the scientific and military communities from approximately 20 NATO countries came together to discuss leading developments in big data and artificial intelligence (AI) at the NATO Science and Technology Organization’s specialists meeting, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for Military

  • Innovation competition funds new squadron initiatives

    The 437th Airlift Wing received $450,000 to be divided amongst each of its squadrons as part of the Air Force Squadron Innovation Fund, an effort to revitalize squadrons. Wing commanders were authorized to use 20 percent of those funds on proposals they felt could positively impact multiple

  • Stanford H4D students tour Beale, gain valuable insight

    The 9th Intelligence Squadron hosted a four-person team from Stanford University’s Hacking 4 Defense class, Apr. 20, 2018.The non-profit organization, H4D’s purpose is to generate problem-solving cooperation between academia and the Department of Defense. This specific team’s goal is to help the Air

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

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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.