Robotics, Autonomous Operations and AI Concepts Accelerated
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced on 21 May that its Innovation Centre has completed its first 13-week development cycle and has already selected ventures for a second.
The Innovation Centre operates in collaboration with Starburst, a global accelerator that specializes in aerospace. During the initial cycle, three teams completed Proof of Concept (PoC) ventures involving robotics, autonomous operation and artificial intelligence for space and satellite applications. Following the accelerated development stage, the ventures will continue to evolve in the operational environment of IAI’s various groups.
IAI has already selected ventures for the Centre’s second cycle: R&D managers, aided by IAI’s Innovation Administration, screened the ideas submitted by employees based on business feasibility, market relevance and relevance to the future battlefield. The shortlisted ventures will start their development at the Centre by the end of this month.
The Innovation Centre uses open innovation methodologies to encourage technological diversity and in-house entrepreneurship. The development teams undertake a fast engineering process to create a minimum viable product (MVP), while attending a personal and group enrichment programme which covers accelerated development, team building and management, public speaking, establishing collaboration and more.
“IAI invests hundreds of millions of dollars every year in in-house R&D of innovative technologies. The Innovation Centre is unique in its startup model, which exists inside a stable, well-established company, providing IAI’s engineers with a path for testing their ideas and developing a PoC within weeks. The Innovation Centre adds to IAI’s technological capabilities that lay the building blocks for our future product lines. Open innovation and accelerated development have allowed us to launch dozens of different solutions to help the battle against COVID-19 and respond ‘here and now’ to the needs of the healthcare system. IAI will continue to stand at the forefront of technology, providing its employees and managers a range of ways to support the development of these technologies, advance growth, and reinforce IAI’s technological resilience,” explained Dr Amira Sharon, Chief Technology Officer and Executive VP of Strategy and R&D.
