Brennan Townley (Collaboration.ai CEO), Vince Pecoraro (DTO Lead Program Manager), Kyle Hurst (DTO Chief), Maria Ploessl (Technology Commercialization Chief of Staff), Amy Kircher (Associate Vice President, External Affairs and Strategic Initiatives), Rick Huebsch (Associate Vice President, Research and Innovation)
On January 24, members of the Research and Innovation Office (RIO) met with representatives from Collaboration.ai and the United States Air Force Digital Transformation Office (DTO) to discuss novel ways to connect technology innovation to government needs. The DTO is highly focused on integrating and employing new digital methods to support the capabilities of the Air Force, with an emphasis on six priorities: structuring and securing data, providing access to digital tools, training a digital workforce, instilling a digital first culture, developing digital strategies, and modernizing their IT infrastructure.
UMN leaders were able to hear about the DTO's priorities related to digital optimization technologies and share about the strong UMN and MN innovation ecosystem. Vice President for Research and Innovation Shashank Priya has made enhanced engagement with national security agencies and industry a priority in order to create new research collaborations.