The U.S. Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center and AFWERX, the service’s startup incubator development program, co-hosted an event to showcase innovation projects beneficial to the USAF and Space Force.
Innovation Industry Days was held from Jan. 24 to 26 in San Antonio, Texas, congregating more than 2,000 representatives from the industry, government and academia, the Air Force said Sunday.
The collider event included an expo hall with over 150 vendors, including Booz Allen Hamilton, which presented its digital twin solutions for virtually designing jets and their components.
It also served as a venue for airmen and Guardians to discuss and consult with experts regarding challenges in implementing some of their technologies. The meetings helped the service units reduce the timeline for their projects, said Capt. Garrett Custons, spark branch chief at AFWERX.
“In many instances, Airmen and Guardians don’t even know what tools are out there, so bringing them all together creates awareness but also that in-person connection they can use to leverage later on that maybe doesn’t apply to their current challenge, but a challenge in the future,” said Jadee Purdy, chief innovation officer of AFIMSC.