AFWEX 2022 Program Overview

AFWERX 2.0 Program Overview Building on a foundation of AFà0ªå 1.0, the team identified several opportunities to amplify the early successes. 2021 represents the first year in which the restructured AFà0ªå now includes the following five Department of the Air Force innovation organizations: 1) SpaceWERX; 2) Air Force SBIR/STTR; 3) AFVentures; 4) AFWERX 1.0 (now Spark); and 5) Agility Prime (now Prime). AFWERX operates as part of the Air Force Research Laboratory, but reports to the Service Acquisition Executive with additional guidance from a board of directors. While mergers are not easy, the integration of these different capabilities into one AFWERX creates phenomenal synergies for the mission of accelerating agile and affordable capability transitions to the field, by teaming innovative technology developers with Airman and Juardian talent. àith this restructuring, AFWERX is now postured to build the team with a deliberately-developed innovation corps to meet the mission demand. If properly designed, AFWERX can leverage emergent technologies for Department of the Air Force priorities even though commercial markets are often driving the creation of these technology solutions. The benefit of dualٌ use is that industry has often begun to align new technologies to emerging markets–innovators are already developing the solutions and often have substantial private funding. As such, dual-use technologies can frequently be procured faster and more affordably than defense-driven technologies. To leverage these emerging technology solutions, AFWERX does not dictate requirements in a traditional manner. Instead, AFWERX helps align and shape emerging technologies to Department of the Air Force problems in a way that can accelerate commercial markets and military adoption. Collaboration that propels the American and allied innovation ecosystems could yield vast savings for the taxpayer while creating great leaps in advanced capabilities for the security and prosperity of the nation. This report shows the ongoing steps in that collaboration.