Improving Discovery and Informing Decisions

EDEN Overview

Improve the DoD’s ability to make faster and more robust decisions, and perform real-time distributed collaborative R&D globally.

This requires parallel development of the sciences and technologies, as well as rapid development of how tools are integrated into work environments.  Broad facets of Digital Enterprise include:

  • National R&D ecosystem transactive memory inquiry accelerated by Machine Learning,
  • Point of origin curation and dissemination,
  • Receiver-biased data collection and dynamic visualizations,
  • Persistent real-time, any time, synchronous, and asynchronous collaboration,
  • Automated information and knowledge flow between Top Level Domains, and
  • Application-agnostic capabilities

Research and Development Areas

EDEN Projects

Recasting engagement with an expanding global R&D ecosystem

The DoD’s RDT&E budget was ~15% of the estimated $656 billion spent nationally in 2019.  The DoD must improve the means by which it engages the global R&D ecosystem to benefit from those investments and for its mission.

  • Goal: Improve discovery, awareness, connection of technologies to requirements, and the Return on Investment (ROI) of S&T investments.
  • Example components
    • Field Experimentation, Expertise, and Technology Recommender Systems
    • Proposal Recommender System (to sponsors)
    • Automated calendar/event data set curation and delivery
    • Technology Shelf (e.g., capability-based resource “shopping” lists)
    • Automated social media capabilities (funding and experimentation opportunities)

Enabling distributed synchronous R&D experimentation

Accelerating discovery, maturation, and transition of remerging technologies requires the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and other DoD Research Enterprise to be able to perform synchronous collaborative experimentation from geographically distributed sites.

  • Goal: Improve nationwide real-time experimentation for the DoD Research Enterprise, federally-sponsored laboratories, Private Sector, and Academia partners at the unclassified and classified levels.
  • Example components
    • Synchronous and asynchronous access to all-domain (air, surface, undersea, ground, subterranean, and cyber environments)
    • Fully Networked Command, Control, and Communications (NFC3) environment that supports exchanging operational control of systems
    • Intelligently automated delivery of multi-media data streams

Taking advantage of our own data and protecting U.S. R&D

The Navy spent an estimated $15 million in activities associated with conference/workshop registration in Fiscal Year 2019.  To identify who registered for conferences/workshops that year, more was then spent.  Additionally, risks to emerging technologies, and security were amplified unnecessarily.

  • Goal: Improve the ROI from business operations, and the security of the DoD’s R&D efforts and those involved.
  • Example components
    • Event Management System (announcement, registration, coordination, etc.)
    • Dynamic/Adaptive visualizations of investments, points of contact, technologies, etc.
    • Distributed Collaboration tools (synchronous and asynchronous)
    • Delivering Dudley Knox Library to the .mil
    • Intelligent curation and delivery of grant deliverables
    • Student - Sponsor Matching System (identifies students to ONR Program Officers and Warfare Centers for sponsored work)

A multi-institution Transactive Memory approach to Knowledge Flow

Collaboration capabilities must support diverse skillsets, roles, access requirements, workforce demographics, and IT networks across the globe. Information and Data Science-driven approaches are critical for organizational and community relevancy.

  • Goal: Improve results from collaboration with the global R&D ecosystem.
  • Example components
    • Automated data and metadata tagging
    • Intelligent 24/7 proposal and technology recommender systems
    • R&D (social) network discovery and visualization
    • Intelligent/near-human ‘bot development and deployment