Open Innovation and Collaboration

The summary for the Open Innovation and Collaboration grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Air Force Research Lab, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Open Innovation and Collaboration: Open innovation is a methodology to capitalize on diverse, often non-traditional talents and insights, wherever they reside, to solve problems. Commercial industry has proven open innovation to be an effective and efficient mechanism to overcome seemingly impossible technology and/or new product barriers. AFRL has actively and successfully participated in collaborative open innovation efforts. While these experiences have demonstrated the power of open innovation in the research world, existing mechanisms do not allow AFRL to rapidly enter into contractual relationships to further refine or develop solutions that were identified. This BAA will capitalize on commercial industry experience in open innovation and the benefits already achieved by AFRL using this approach. This BAA will provide AFRL an acquisition tool with the flexibility to rapidly solicit proposals through Calls for Proposals and make awards to deliver innovative technical solutions to meet present and future compelling Air Force needs as ever-changing operational issues become known. The requirements, terms and specific deliverables of each Call for Proposals will vary depending on the nature of the challenge being addressed. It is anticipated that Call(s) for Proposals will address challenges in (or the intersection between) such as the following technology areas: Materials: - Exploiting material properties to meet unique needs - Material analysis, concept / prototype development, and scale up Manufacturing Processes that enable affordable design, production and sustainment operations Aerospace systems: - Vehicle design, control, and coordinated autonomous and/or manned operations - Power and propulsion to enable next generation systems Human Effectiveness: - Methods and techniques to enhance human performance and resiliency in challenging environments - Man – Machine teaming and coordinated activities Sensors and Sensing Systems: - Sensor and sensing system concept development, design, integration and prototyping - Data integration and exploitation