AFWERX, the Department of the Air Force’s innovation arm, is set to release a series of efforts representing its updated priorities aimed at expanding technology, workforce and capabilities across the U.S. Air Force and Space Force.
Col. Elliott Leigh, the incoming commander of AFWERX, said the unit’s new approach will support innovation within DAF and industry commercialization by building on the foundation set by the current AFWERX team, the Air Force Research Laboratory reported Friday.
The AFWERX 3.0 evolution will focus on five specific lines of effort: increase funding opportunities aligned with DAF operational imperatives; bridge the “valley of death” in innovation; expand existing tools through AFWERX AFVentures, AFWERX Spark and AFWERX Prime; widen industry’s access to classified work with DAF; and enhance the data architecture for process improvement.
“It has been incredible to see so many Airman and Guardian innovation experiments evolve into institutionalized programs that are not only adding amazing new capabilities to the force, but maybe more importantly, they are creating more agile structures for how we accelerate the development of the future force,” said Col. Nathan Diller, the outgoing AFWERX director.
Diller and Leigh will provide further details on the AFWERX 3.0 approach at an event scheduled for Dec. 14.