The AFC Science & Technology Division hosted the inaugural Science & Technology Innovation Workshop

By Kellie Wade U.S. Army Futures CommandAugust 29, 2019

usa image
Participants from the inaugural Army Futures Command Science & Technology Innovation Workshop led by Dr. Kimberly Sablon, AFC Science & Technology Director, in collaboration with the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Research and T... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

The AFC Science & Technology Division (S&T) hosted the inaugural Science & Technology Innovation Workshop at AFC HQ, Austin, TX on August 28-29, 2019.

The intent of the workshop was to bring together leading scientists across the Department of Defense, academia, and industry to understand the state of the science and technology in 6 high priority technology areas (Hypersonics, Quantum, Cyber, Directed Energy, Synthetic Biology and Augmented/Virtual Reality) critical to Army Modernization.

The AFC S&T Division leveraged advanced analytics to identify and invite the most prolific and important scientists and institutions across the United States in each of the six tech areas. The workshop had approximately 100 participants and was comprised of the Army's senior scientists (STs), Department of Defense subject matter experts, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Research and Technology, Navy, Air Force, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and key technical leaders from academia.

An Army ST lead for each of the six tech areas facilitated group work to develop a gap analysis and recommendations for areas where the Army should assume a lead, shape, watch or follow position.

The AFC S&T Division will receive products from each workshop group to identify S&T opportunities and possible investments which can then potentially inform the FY22 S&T Program Objective Memorandum.