AFIMSC seeks ideas for Innovation Rodeo

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  • U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa Public Affairs

From Master Sgt. Jonathan Maas, assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, winning the 2019 Air Force Spark Tank competition to the 48th Fighter Wing taking home first place for Innovation Madness, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa has a lot of innovative Airmen.

The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center is sponsoring the second annual Innovation Rodeo with a call-for-topics campaign.

The campaign, open through Dec. 15, gives military and civilian members of mission support groups worldwide a chance to win part of $1 million in funding and resources to implement their ideas. 

“We know our Airmen have ideas that can potentially transform the Air Force,” said Marc Vandeveer, AFIMSC chief innovation officer. “We want to help them bring those ideas to life.”

The competition calls for Airmen to submit their ideas though the online Ideascale platform at 
https://usaf.ideascalegov.com/a/ideas/recent/campaigns/100.

“Our Airmen have their finger on the pulse of innovation and truly know how to improve our Air Force,” said Maj. Jeffrey Fry, from the USAFE – AFAFRICA Innovation and Transformation Office. “I am looking forward to seeing their submissions for this year’s AFIMSC Innovation Rodeo.”

Airmen with the top eight ideas will come to San Antonio in February to learn from leading innovators and convince a board of senior Air Force installation and mission support leaders that their idea is the best during the AFIMSC Innovation Rodeo on Feb. 7.

Last year, eight finalists were chosen among 122 submissions and 2,000 online votes to compete in the inaugural AFIMSC Innovation Rodeo, where competitors with the top three ideas split $650,000 to get their ideas prototyped via AFWERX and technology accelerators.

Additional support from the Small Business Innovation Research Program and other sources increased the support to the winners to more than $5 million, according to Patricia Marshall, a project manager with the AFIMSC Innovation Office.

“The 2019 Innovation Rodeo has been very successful,” Marshall said. “The winning submission for a crowdsourced mobile application went from idea to the iOS App store in 155 days. Additionally, machine learning and artificial intelligence drone roof inspections received $3 million in additional SBIR funding.”

For more information about AFIMSC’s Innovation Rodeo, visit https://www.afimsc.af.mil/innovation