Presentation Transcript

1. Innovation Challenges inHomeland Security

   Security Innovation NetworkInnovation Summit 2012 August 8, 2012 Tara O’Toole, M.D., M.P.H.Under Secretary for Science and TechnologyU.S. Department of Homeland Security
2. Key Points Homeland Security missions: cover broad scope of problems and operations, complex, dynamic Value Proposition of DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) How do we build national innovation ecosystem? Possible directions for government, academia, and private sector
3. Department of Homeland Security
4. Thinking Enemies:Evolution of Terrorist Attacks in Aviation
5. U.S. Airline Flight Density Source: Koblin
6. Worldwide Land and Sea Shipping Density Sources: Uchida, Nelson
7. Visualization of the Internet Source: OPTE Project
8. WMD and other Catastrophes Deliberate biological attacks – human or agriculture targets Natural pandemic – influenza or emerging disease Improvised nuclear device – scale varies Big earthquake, hurricane Cyberattack(s) on critical infrastructure Complex technological accidents
9. Complex Systems Fail Complexly “In complex industrial, space, and military systems, the normal accident generally (not always) means that the interactions are not only unexpected, but are incomprehensible for some critical period of time.” –Charles Perrow, Normal Accidents, 1984
10. Deepwater Horizon Sources: Reuters, Wikimedia Commons
11. Three Near-Simultaneous Disasters Magnitude 9.0 Sources: AP, Reuters
12. DHS S&T Mission Strengthen America’s security and resiliency by providing knowledge products and innovative technology solutions for the Homeland Security Enterprise
13. S&T Value Proposition S&T’s contributions to the Homeland Security Enterprise will come from: Creation, of new technological capabilities and process enhancements Cost savings due to technological innovation and analytics Leveraging scientific and engineering expertise to achieve improvements in operational analysis, project management and acquisition management Progressively deeper, broader understanding of homeland security technology priorities and capability gaps
14. Goal 1: Transition to Use Rapidly develop and deliver knowledge, analyses, and innovative solutions that advance the mission of the Department Provide knowledge, technologies, and science-based solutions that are integrated into homeland security operations, employing 24-36 month innovation cycles from project inception through operational testing Strengthen relationships with DHS components to better understand and address their high-priority requirements Become “best-in-class” at technology foraging – find and use what’s out there; encourage and enable multidisciplinary teams Focus on rigorous project selection and regular review of the entire R&D portfolio Implement processes that strengthen project management, evaluation, and accountability within the Directorate
15. Innovation as Goal “The greatest change of all is probably that in the last 40 years purposeful innovation—both technical and social—has itself become an organized discipline that is both teachable and learnable.” “[E]very organization will have to learn to innovate—and innovation can now be organized and must be organized—as a systematic process.” “On the one hand, this means every organization has to prepare for the abandonment of everything it does. […] On the other hand, every organization must devote itself to creating the new.” –Peter Drucker, The New Society of Organizations, 1992
16. Where Innovation Comes From “In the cases I have studied, again and again I am struck that innovation emerges when people are faced by problems—particular, well-specified problems. “It arises as solutions to these are conceived of by people steeped in many means—many functionalities—they can combine. “It is enhanced by funding that enables this, by training and experience in myriad functionalities, by the existence of special projects and labs devoted to the study of particular problems, and by local cultures that foster deep craft.” –W. Brian Arthur, The Nature of Technology, 2009
17. R&D Investment Worldwide Source: NSF
18. Innovation Is Not a Given Are we losing our edge? How do we balance R&D investments in an austere budget cycle? What happens in five years if we don’t invest in R&D?
19. Innovation in DHS S&T “Top heavy bureaucracies remain innovation sink holes.”Steven Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From, 2010 DHS S&T innovation advantages Problem rich environment Multidisciplinary teams Leverage others’ investments Opportunities for operational test beds, pilots, T&E Capacity to partner with private sector, academia, other federal agencies, internationally Convening power
20. Collaborative Innovation New hubs and vehicles for sustained intellectual sharing, collaboration Common, comprehensive understanding of problems to be solved System solutions – not just technology fixes New partnerships between US government and other players: discussion groups, collaborations, grants, contracts Faster transition to use in the field Clear, repeated, public descriptions of purposes and stakes
21. “The single most frequent failure in the history of forecasting has been grossly underestimatingthe impact of technologies” –Peter Schwartz, President, Global Business Network