• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

US Military

  • Branches
    • Army
    • Navy
    • Air Force
    • Marine Corps
    • Coast Guard
    • National Guard
    • Air National Guard
    • Find A Recruiter
  • Find A Recruiter
  • Military Benefits
    • GI Bill
    • VA Loans
    • Military Scholarships
    • Military Friendly Colleges
    • Money
  • Jobs
    • Military Pay Chart
    • Veteran Jobs
    • Civilian Jobs
  • VA Loan Rates
  • Military News
    • Top News
    • Benefits
    • Careers
    • Education
    • Featured Columnists
      • Larry Fowler
      • Scott Ostrow
      • Kim Lengling
      • Dr. Sasha Toperich
      • Rick Stewart
  • GI Bill
  • VA Loans
  • Military Scholarships
  • Top Military-Friendly Colleges and Universities in America

Natick Pitches Innovation in Forum For Ideas

January 5, 2015 By admin

NATICK, Mass. (Jan. 5, 2015) – The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center, or NSRDEC, has come up with a new way to spark out-of-the-box thinking, risk-taking, and employee participation. The center implemented the “Bootstrap Initiative and Pitch Day.”

The Bootstrap Initiative encourages innovation and creativity while streamlining processes and minimizing bureaucracy. The program accepts ideas from government civilian NSRDEC employees, who are allowed to submit proposals for a new technology, research project, business process, or administrative process that supports NSRDEC’s mission, which includes researching and developing cutting-edge food, shelter, clothing and airdrop technologies and products.

Employee enthusiasm, participation and empowerment are at the heart of the initiative. Employees propose ideas and vote on which ideas receive funding.

NSRDEC’s Dr. Ken Desabrais, a research aerospace engineer, conceived the idea and led the Bootstrap Implementation Team.

“The Bootstrap Initiative was conceived of as a way to bring the crowdsourcing concept to NSRDEC, to find innovative and creative ways within our organization to solve a spectrum of problems, from technical challenges to improvements in our business and administrative processes and tools,” Desabrais said. “Our intent with the initiative was to encourage the sharing of ideas and help nurture a culture of collaboration amongst our colleagues to identify and find solutions to the problems we see in achieving our mission of helping the Soldier, while also empowering people to pursue and make decisions about those ideas.

“The Bootstrap Implementation Team did an exceptional job in pulling the initiative together in a very short time frame. We were able to implement and execute the initiative in about three months from start to finish, which is a testament to the dedication and commitment everyone put into the effort, including all the people [who] participated in submitting ideas and voting for proposals.”

Although Bootstrap is intended to encourage originality and ingenuity, there are still some submission restrictions. For instance, ideas must be able to be carried out for $50,000 or less. Funding cannot be used to fund a contractor or external contract.

NSRDEC’s Pitch Day provided a unique forum for both proposal creators and voters. During Pitch Day, proposers garnered employee voter support for their ideas by making posters, displaying prototypes, creating interactive displays and conducting show-and-tell sessions.

“This was a great effort to bring people together in a new and exciting way,” said Donna Bulger, associate director for NSRDEC Operations and Outreach. “Giving the workforce an opportunity to have a voice in what efforts move forward generated some great discussion, and I am sure [it] will spark some new ideas for the next cycle.”

Pitch Day showcased many project home runs, but not every project could be a winner. Funding was limited and the competition was steep, with 37 groundbreaking ideas being submitted.

In the end, there were 18 winning proposals, ranging from zero-waste cafeterias to a low-altitude, high-accuracy airdrop activation device.

“The workforce’s response to the Bootstrap program far exceeded my expectation,” said Dr. Charlene Mello, NSRDEC chief scientist. “It has brought together the business, administrative and technical communities to collaboratively execute our mission. I am eager to follow the progress of funded ideas and generation of new ideas for future Bootstrap submissions.”

Megan Hoey, an NSRDEC research chemical engineer, submitted a Bootstrap project entitled “Friend or Foe in Fibers,” which was one of the projects chosen by NSRDEC employee voters for funding.

“The Bootstrap Initiative has provided an avenue for me to start some work on developing fibers with specific optical additives in order to inform and prepare for a larger-scale 6.2 friend vs. foe identification effort that is on hold. If funding becomes available for that effort, Bootstrap will have enabled me to hit the ground running and effectively and efficiently transition into the full-scale Warfighter Improved Combat Identification Development 6.2 project.”

Filed Under: Army, daniel articles, Top News

Recent Posts

  • What Makes Navy SEALs The Best Special Forces Operators in the World Today?
  • How Was Military Time Created And Why?
  • The Best 5 US Military Bases In The World
  • Congrats To Recent Graduates And Is The Military A Great Place For Young People Today
  • The Best Jobs in the United States Army
VA Loans

Primary Sidebar

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE

USMilitary.com is a privately owned website and is NOT AFFILIATED (or endorsed) with the U.S. GOVERNMENT, U.S. ARMED FORCES, or DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS

USMilitary.com Career Guide

Sign up to receive USMilitary.com email updates and to hear what's going on with all military branches!

Featured Columnists

Larry Fowler

Larry Fowler is the publisher of USMilitary.com Network one of America's premier privately owned

Do You Know The Army’s Most Dangerous Jobs?

Scott Ostrow

Lt Col (Dr.) Scott A. Ostrow retired from the Air Force in September 2005 and has been teaching

Congrats To Recent Graduates And Is The Military A Great Place For Young People Today

Kim Lengling

Kim Lengling is a Air Force Veteran whose passion is to help support veterans and their

This Memorial Day: The Knock On The Door

Dr. Sasha Toperich

Dr. Sasha Toperich is the Senior Executive Vice President at Transatlantic Leadership

Sarraj’s Dangerous Dance With Power

Rick Stewart

Rick Stewart is a former United States Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE)

Announcing American Patriots Unsung Magazine

Nathan B. Nelson

Capt (ret) Nathan B. Nelson is the Director of Military Affairs for the 1st Congressional district

Three Critical Considerations for Every Veteran Prior to Leaving Active Duty

Laquan Daniels

Laquan Daniel is a military recruiting expert with over 17 years of specialized experience in the

Important News For Military Transitioning Veterans

Veteran Buzz

High-Paying Jobs for Military Veterans

5 High-Paying Jobs for Military Veterans

July 2, 2018 By Ben Ehinger

High Paying Jobs Not Requiring a Degree

June 28, 2018 By Ben Ehinger

7 Best Military Careers That Lead To High Paying Civilian Jobs

June 10, 2018 By larryf

VA Loans

Footer

  • Advertise With Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Write For US
  • Link to Us

Recent

  • What Makes Navy SEALs The Best Special Forces Operators in the World Today?
  • How Was Military Time Created And Why?
  • The Best 5 US Military Bases In The World
  • Congrats To Recent Graduates And Is The Military A Great Place For Young People Today
  • The Best Jobs in the United States Army

Search

© Copyright 2022 USMillitary
Web Design by Goebel Media Group


THIS IS A PRIVATE WEBSITE THAT IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, U.S. ARMED FORCES, OR DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE NOT REVIEWED THIS INFORMATION. THIS SITE IS NOT CONNECTED WITH ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY.