Understanding the Emergence of Disruptive Innovation in Air Force Science and Technology Organizations

Although innovation is widely discussed in both military and industry venues, many organizations continue to struggle with whatit means to be creative as well as maintain a competitive advantage. The United States Air Force has specifically struggled with thebalance between improving existing technologies and employing revolutionary technologies. The purpose of this thesis research was tostudy the motivation, focus, barriers, and culture needed to foster disruptive innovation in Air Force Science and Technology (S and T) and toinvestigate how industry innovation strategies could improve breakthrough Air Force technology emergence. The Air Force ResearchLaboratory (AFRL), the primary organization responsible for planning and executing all aspects of the Air Force science and technologyprogram, is the ideal study subject to represent the Air Force S and T community at large. Two previous industry research studies, nowreplicated in an AFRL organizational environment, provided quantitative and qualitative comparisons between the industry and Air ForceS and T communities.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.