ARTICLES

THE INNOVATION PLATFORM

Innovation is the most vital factor in shaping our future. Innovative ideas pave the way to economic growth, improved quality of life, better security and advanced tools that make a positive impact for all.

The iDISPLA Platform is developing a capability to capitalize on community innovation culture, artificial intelligence, knowledge, distributed problem solving, data gathering, intelligence & analytics and a collaboration platform for STEM, workforce and technology solutions.

Innovation is not simply an idea but rather the ability to filter the difficulties around the idea to discover gains and transfer value. This entails taking risk. It requires creativity, vision, free thinking, resources and most importantly collaboration to deliver value. For innovation to be sustainable, it is imperative that a robust and talented workforce development strategy is in place. For continuous innovation, the workforce training and education in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and arts (STEAM) becomes necessary. STEM/STEAM and R&D driven workforce is the backbone of a globally competitive, knowledge-driven economy.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a land of technological opportunities. The Commonwealth must continue to be innovative to deliver value to the Virginians. Therefore a pool of talented workforce must be available to meet the growing demand of businesses and citizens.

Virginia is uniquely situated with significant federal and industry presence. To make a positive impact for commercial and federal interests, we need a platform where collaboration, innovation and scientific discourse becomes the new culture and avoid activities through separate silos. We need a network of collaborative teaming between the Commonwealth, Federal entities, Industries and Universities, and provide a framework where the collaboration can drive innovation by connecting and stimulating this network. We need to equip this platform with a value creation capability that brings together the community and offer solutions from all walks of life. The iDISPLA platform is such a framework.

Founded upon education and research, the iDISPLA framework facilitates the culture of three-Is -- challenged innovation, technology inspired innovation and workforce driven innovation. The idea is simply to become the "sparkplug" that can start this "innovation engine". The iDISPLA platform promotes "lateral thinking" to connect ideas to applications.

We must create long-term opportunities for technological progress that creates new capabilities for our people and workers from every demographic group. Future technological needs require early investigation in scientific development to mature technology in due time. There must be a clear strategy that integrates R&D with innovative processes to realize gains faster. A scientific/technological base, an innovation climate and a robust workforce are therefore essential. The scientific base ensures retention and incubation of new ideas and solutions. The innovation climate drive values and markets in the midst of uncertainty. A robust workforce helps sustain the growth. The creativity, vision and collaboration ensures that the scientific base remains vibrant at all times and creates an innovation engine to translate R&D into future applications for commercial, security and defense.