{"id":137439,"date":"2024-03-11T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=137439"},"modified":"2024-03-13T17:21:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T17:21:49","slug":"guard-bureau-chief-sees-innovation-tech-converge-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=137439","title":{"rendered":"Guard Bureau Chief sees innovation, tech converge in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, joins the South by Southwest Conference, Austin, Texas, March 9-10, 2024. Hokanson engaged with entrepreneurs, small business owners and innovators about new concepts that could benefit the Guard and the Joint Force.
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AUSTIN \u2014 Innovation and emerging technology underscored the National Guard\u2019s senior-most officer\u2019s visit to Texas March 9-10.<\/p>\n

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, met with Texas Army National Guardsmen and joined the 2024 South by Southwest Conference where he talked with entrepreneurs, small business owners and innovators about new concepts that could benefit the Guard and the joint force.<\/p>\n

When Hokanson took the helm as CNGB in 2020, he outlined his priorities for the Guard: people, readiness modernization and reform. The synergy of industry, academia, venture capital and service members brainstorming ways to incorporate new technology and ideas into military applications at SXSW is remarkable, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe military has always been a force for innovation,\u201d Hokanson said during a fireside chat at Austin\u2019s Capital Factory. \u201cAs the pace of technological change accelerates, we must continue to explore unique ideas and foster new partnerships to ensure our ability to protect our nation and help local communities in times of emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hokanson met with Guardsmen who are assigned to the Defense Innovation Unit\u2014a Defense Department organization to help the U.S. military make hasty use of developing commercial technologies. With offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, Chicago and inside the Pentagon, DIU is the department\u2019s gateway to leading technology companies across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI applaud the critical work DIU is doing to form partnerships that help connect the Department of Defense with civilian companies and entrepreneurs who can provide new ideas and solutions,\u201d the general said.<\/p>\n

He also talked to Guardsmen with ARCWERX \u2014 the Air Reserve Component\u2019s version of AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force.<\/p>\n

\u201cVenues like SXSW are what we call creativity clusters,\u201d said Air Force Lt. Col. Hans Jagow, the director and cofounder of ARCWERX and an Alaska Guard member. \u201cAt events like this, ideas expand to new levels when combined with other innovative and creative thought. What comes out of SXSW are novel solutions and new advancements in DOD capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, joins the South by Southwest Conference, Austin, Texas, March 9-10, 2024. Hokanson engaged with entrepreneurs, small business owners and innovators about new concepts that could benefit the Guard and the Joint Force.
\n (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Zach Sheely)<\/span>
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Every National Guard in the 50 states, three territories and Washington, D.C. has innovation initiatives. ARCWERX serves as an innovation heart for the Guard, supporting the innovation ecosystem through education, connection to partner resourcing and internal resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupporting and encouraging innovation in peacetime bolsters future wartime operations by solidifying a culture of innovation necessary for future wartime agility,\u201d Jagow said.<\/p>\n

Hokanson visited Camp Mabry in Austin and Camp Swift in nearby Bastrop to talk with Texas Guardsmen during drill. He also saw the Texas Military Department\u2019s revolutionary 3D constructed barracks \u2014 a product of the types of innovation born at SXSW.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 3D printed the first barracks in the U.S. military,\u201d Hokanson said. \u201cThese structures were built in half the time at two-thirds of the cost of previous construction projects using traditional materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CNGB raved about the aesthetics and practicality of the barracks structure, completed in 2021 \u2014 then the largest 3D printed structure in North America. The 3,800-plus square foot building can house up to 72 troops while they train for missions in Texas or overseas.<\/p>\n

These structures are designed to be built faster and last longer than traditional buildings. The Texas Military Department is currently building a similar 3D-printed training center at its Camp Mabry headquarters. Texas Army National Guardsmen supported this project with troop labor and engineering units to pour the foundation slabs.<\/p>\n

Similar, larger-scale construction projects have sprung up, as the DOD will soon open three 3D-printed barracks at Fort Bliss.<\/p>\n

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\n Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, stands for a photo with Guard innovation leads at the South by Southwest Conference, Austin, Texas, March 9-10, 2024. Hokanson engaged with American entrepreneurs, small business owners and innovators about new concepts that could benefit the Guard and the Joint Force.
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Back at the Capital Factory\u2019s Joint Defense Innovation Workspace, Hokanson saw other innovative concepts including a platform that connects service members\u2019 expertise to defense needs, robotic automation, mental health screening via ocular scanning and transformational power technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation, to me, is not just technology and developing new things,\u201d Hokanson said. \u201cIt\u2019s asking, \u2018How could we do what we’re doing better and more efficiently?\u2019 Sometimes there is no materiel solution. It’s a process solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CNGB encourages Guardsmen across the country to bring forward new ideas that could make the organization better. Last December, the National Guard Bureau held an innovation challenge to showcase the inventive prowess of Guard members. The NGB plans to conduct innovation competitions biannually.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are an individual or company and you think you might have an idea or piece of tech that could help our National Guard be better and more capable, we want to hear from you,\u201d Hokanson said. \u201cReach out to your state National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters, or ARCWERX directly to start the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guard has had to innovate for almost 400 years to stay relevant and provide our nation what it asks for,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we can\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, joins the South by Southwest Conference, Austin, Texas, March 9-10, 2024. Hokanson engaged with entrepreneurs, small business owners and innovators about new concepts that could benefit the Guard and the Joint Force. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Zach Sheely) VIEW ORIGINAL AUSTIN \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137441,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137445,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137439\/revisions\/137445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/137441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}