Undersea Tech experts explore the core of successful innovation partnerships
Undersea Tech experts explore the core of successful innovation partnerships
Top industry leaders agree that successful partnerships focused on the development of undersea tech thrive on mutual trust, open communication, collaboration, and the maximizing of complementary strengths and expertise.
UTIC recently talked with several leaders from industry, academia and government for the new series Conversations with Ocean and Undersea Tech Leaders, and each provided insightful guidance on what it takes to build and sustain innovation-oriented partnerships in our marketplace. Some of the key takeaways:
Successful partnerships need representation from manufacturers, integration leaders, logistics experts and more to help advance undersea technology. For all those involved, buy-in is the key to successful outcomes. One former Navy leader and current industry exec commented: “Getting that early collaborative buy-in from ecosystem partners is the first key step to gaining future commitments for government or commercial investment, making it essential for the advancement of undersea technology.”
A retired naval officer and current industry thought leader believes that the way to “bridge the ‘valley of death’ between any R&D project and a formal program of record,” is to build “a cohesive government-industry team based on mutual trust and confidence, and open two-way communication and collaboration across that team.” Open, trust-based collaboration is especially important as public/private collaboration efforts dive into important new areas including unmanned systems and other emerging undersea technologies that “do not necessarily fit neatly into the traditional lanes of responsibility of the existing government program offices.”
Successful public/private partnerships in ocean and undersea tech can benefit partners in defense, industry and the broader public by “leveraging niche ocean-related expertise, facilities, and resources” with a view to tackle immediate and future challenges with innovation, commented a leading ocean engineering researcher and professor. Oceans are a major source of the world’s food, they drive the weather, and they are the avenue for the vast majority of world trade through shipping, pointing to successful public/private partnerships as drivers of innovation that can “address wide-serving societal needs by addressing technological problems that impact many.”
To learn about these ocean and undersea tech leaders and their perspectives about undersea tech partnerships, collaboration, innovation, and more visit UTIC’s Conversations with Ocean and Undersea Tech Leaders series online.
