Communications of the ACM
Dhs Adds Foraging to Tech Arsenal
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to forage for technology among other government agencies, research groups, or even in private industry, if it does not have the technology it needs to solve a specific problem.
Credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can turn to technology foraging when it does not have a particular technology needed to solve a problem. The concept involves scouring the tech ideas and gear from other agencies, research groups, or private industry, and adapting what is found to make a suitable solution.
Such technology foraging became a cornerstone of the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate's mission in 2011.
People often think of a lab genius who creates a breakthrough when they think "innovator," but today innovators are also needed to adapt it, package it, and then field it, says Stephen Hancock, head of the S&T tech foraging initiative. "It is the reinventing of invention itself," Hancock notes.
For example, in a collaboration with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on disaster-victim detection technology, S&T modified a NASA-developed human heartbeat detection monitor for use in search-and-rescue operations. The program "leverages existing research to save time and money while jump-starting a technology's application for homeland security," says DHS spokesperson Nicole Stickel.
From Federal Computer Week
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2013 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found