Understanding the Emergence of Disruptive Innovation in Air Force Science and Technology Organizations

Although innovation is widely discussed in both military and industry venues, many organizations continue to struggle with whatit means to be creative as well as maintain a competitive advantage. The United States Air Force has specifically struggled with thebalance between improving existing technologies and employing revolutionary technologies. The purpose of this thesis research was tostudy the motivation, focus, barriers, and culture needed to foster disruptive innovation in Air Force Science and Technology (S and T) and toinvestigate how industry innovation strategies could improve breakthrough Air Force technology emergence. The Air Force ResearchLaboratory (AFRL), the primary organization responsible for planning and executing all aspects of the Air Force science and technologyprogram, is the ideal study subject to represent the Air Force S and T community at large. Two previous industry research studies, nowreplicated in an AFRL organizational environment, provided quantitative and qualitative comparisons between the industry and Air ForceS and T communities.