The Defense Department plans to appoint a chief innovation officer to serve as a senior adviser to the secretary and lead programs such as the Defense Innovation Board’s suggested activities, DoD News reported Friday.Cheryl Pellerin writes Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that he will implement three practices from DIB’s recommendations in efforts to drive innovation at DoD.
Carter said the chief innovation officer could help build software and human networks to support technological development across DoD; sponsor contests and tournaments; and facilitate training and education to boost collaboration, creativity and critical thinking.
DoD also aims to launch targeted recruiting initiatives to hire computer scientists and software engineers into the military and civilian workforce, the report stated.
Carter added DoD seeks to build on its machine learning investments through challenges, prize competitions and a virtual center of excellence model that will work to encourage academic and private sector researchers to help the Pentagon achieve “stretch goals,” DoD News said.
