Captain Shawn Cooper, XVII Airborne Corps Innovation Officer, joins Bonnie Evangelista this week to talk about how the Corps is building connective tissue to support bottom-up innovation, scale soldier ideas, and integrate them with development partners across the DoD. He dives into managing soldiers’ time to innovate, maximizing your 20%, and identifying demand signals from your end users. Tune in to learn more about Shawn's journey and the exciting projects happening within the XVII Airborne Corps.

TIMESTAMPS:

(3:19) Shawn’s reputation as the “Apex Nerd”

(5:40) How Dragon’s Lair empowers problem-solving skills

(9:39) Using soldier-driven ideas as demand signals

(16:34) How to manage a soldier’s time to innovate

(17:04) The creation of the Innovation Officer Skill Identifier

(19:38) How to maximize the 20% that drives operational effectiveness

LINKS:

Follow Bonnie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-evangelista-520747231/

CDAO: https://www.ai.mil/

Tradewinds AI: https://www.tradewindai.com/