CNO Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC)

Abstract

The CNO's Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC), created at the CNO's direction in 2013, is a group of junior officers and mid-grade enlisted personnel charged with identifying and developing disruptive and innovative solutions to warfighting problems, and to spread a culture of deckplate innovation througout the Fleet. The intent is to look for innovative ideas, technologies or opportunities outside the normal development and acquisition areas. The CRIC is not a full-time job for these young innovators but a collateral duty in addition to their normally assigned duties. There are no orders detailing them to the CRIC - just an informal agreement between themselves, their Commanding Officers and the Commander Navy Warfare Development Command (NWDC) that allows them to spend a portion of their time working on their innovative project. NWDC manages the CRIC for the CNO and reports directly to the CNO on CRIC issues. Interested junior officers/mid-grade enlisted personnel who are passionate about a particular idea/technology/opportunity apply to the program in Q2 for membership the following FY. Their application package identifies their proposed project and how they think it should be approached. The application packages are reviewed and 8-10 are selected for further consideration based on the background/experience of the individual and the potential of the proposed project. The basic criteria for project selection is something that can be brought to a prototype stage within 12-18 months with a small amount of seed money. The average project will have a total cost in the $800K to $1.2M range (spread over two FYs), with an upper limit of $2M. Potential projects are reviewed for technical feasibility by Office of Naval Research (ONR) scientists and engineers during Q3, briefed by the CRIC member to a Flag Officer panel (CNWDC, CNR, and OPNAV N81) for interim approval and prioritization, and then approved by the CNO in Q4. The funding plan for the following FY starts to take shape during the Q3 feasibility review and Flag Officer interim approval. Approved projects are developed and executed in partnership with other Navy organizations, labs, academic institutions, and industry, typically within that 12-18 month timeframe. CRIC projects are not focused on addressing today's capability gaps (although some do) but rather to investigate potential solutions or opportunities outside the typical development/acquisition process. The CNO's guidance was that CRIC members not work from a list of "gaps to address" but rather use their imaginations to work on something of interest to them that could possibly provide value to the Navy. This process does not allow for building spend plans years in advance - it very much reacts to the interests of the junior officers/mid-grade enlisted personnel chosen for their innovative spirit and ability to "sell" flag officers on their ideas. An example of one of the early projects is 3 dimensional(3D) printing, which has the potential to dramatically alter afloat maintenance and logistics by providing the ability to fabricate some types of spare parts on board vice waiting weeks for them to be shipped from a warehouse. Another is Suspended Underwater Raw Fiber (SURF), a very thin fiber-optic cable suspended beneath the surface of the water that can be deployed from a ship and used for high speed transport of data over tens or hundreds of miles. Some future projects under consideration address issues such as energy conservation, maintenance cost reduction, and unmanned systems.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2016
• Source ID: 2140_0604707N_4_1319_PB_2016

Tags

Readers

• Defense Technology Research and Development.
• Maritime and Naval Warfare Studies
• Military Leadership and Professional Education.

Technology Areas

• Autonomy