This week the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) outlines the crucial importance of- and their approach to- innovation.
Innovation is of course critical to these sectors: maintaining strategic advantage against ever-changing threats to UK security. To do this, DASA exemplifies the open innovation approach of collaboration across government, industry and academia. As a result, requirements are identified, and the right people brought together to develop workable solutions rapidly.
DASA’s other exemplary innovator mindset indicators include:
- Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration
- Not being scared to fail, always learning.
- Awareness of, and interest in, other sectors and markets outside of their own (defence and security). This can harness new capabilities and ideas, and stimulate the marketplace and UK prosperity
- Driving innovation through to results- not allowing it to be a flurry of activity with no substance
- Creating the resources for innovation; in this case an emphasis on funding, but also mentoring, and incentivising
- Acknowledgement of sector complexity and fragmentation. (As an aside, substitute ‘sector’ for ‘company’ for an analogous parallel with the frequently-encountered innovation limiting ‘silo mentality’ in organisations)
- Monitoring of their ever-changing landscape
- An obsession to know and continuously discover what the enduser on the front line (literally!) needs
Read the post, with real-life case studies on the UK Government site.