Crowdsourcing

Topic Sponsor: PACAF/A8X

How can the Air Force more effectively crowdsource solutions to capability and capacity gaps across the industrial-military complex while balancing security concerns? 

• Babb, Wallace, "Alternate Procurement Methods for Mitigating China MCF Strategy," AFGC thesis, 2025, 36 pgs.  
  • Evaluates how the Department of Defense can leverage prize competitions, crowdsourcing (such as AFWERX Challenges), and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) initiatives to swiftly acquire commercial technologies. The paper argues that crowdsourcing effectively attracts diverse, breakthrough solutions from startups and universities while minimizing financial risk, as the DoD only pays for successful concepts. To balance the inherent integration and security risks of using non-traditional vendors, Babb recommends a hybrid procurement strategy that combines crowdsourcing with Commercial Solutions Openings (CSOs) and DIU oversight. This approach ensures that while the Air Force rapidly taps into the commercial industrial base to fill capability gaps against adversaries like China, the technologies are properly field-tested, managed, and securely transitioned into broader military programs.
• Bartels, Maj. Kristopher H., "Bridging the Innovation Valley of Death: Incentivizing the Transitioning of Rapid Acquisition Technology to the Warfighter Using Risk Stratification," AFGC thesis, 2024, 51 pgs. 
  • Proposes an optimized crowdsourcing marketplace to help Small Business Companies (SBCs) cross the acquisition "Valley of Death." Bartels notes that while programs like AFWERX successfully crowdsource initial research and development, a risk-averse military culture often prevents these solutions from being fully acquired and fielded to close capability gaps. To effectively balance the influx of novel capabilities with operational and security risks, the paper recommends utilizing a "system orchestrator" to oversee the AFWERX "Ignite" crowdsourcing storefront, combined with a rigorous "risk stratification methodology". By actively scoring and quantifying the tangible and intangible risks of crowdsourced technologies, the Air Force can clearly articulate demand signals and security profiles, incentivizing risk-averse decision-makers to confidently adopt non-traditional solutions.
• Caldwell, Alysha, "Thinking Small: Maximizing Small Business Participation in Air Force Supply Chain Acquisition," AFGC thesis, 2021, 47 pgs. 
  • Focuses on how the Air Force can utilize small businesses to fill capability gaps and mitigate the risks of diminishing supply sources for legacy weapon systems. The paper recommends crowdsourcing a wider net of suppliers by increasing outreach through the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), improving the clarity of Sam.gov announcements, and simplifying the source approval process (SAR) to lower barriers to entry for non-traditional vendors. It highlights those complex regulations, specifically the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), act as a major deterrent for small businesses, demonstrating that the Air Force must find ways to standardize and incentivize these security qualifications to safely integrate new industrial partners.
• Cox, Maj. Christopher, "Military Acquisitions in a World with Rising Chinese Control," AF Fellows, 2021, 81 pgs. 
  • Answers the question by examining how the Air Force can leverage organizations like AFWERX and Air Force Ventures to engage small businesses, academia, and Airmen to identify, validate, and fund innovative commercial technologies. The paper argues that traditional acquisition processes are too slow but cautions that utilizing waivers and emergency processes to rapidly acquire technology creates significant security vulnerabilities. To balance these concerns, the author asserts that the military must find the "knee in the curve" between due diligence and speed, streamlining standard processes to keep pace with innovation without implementing inadequate security measures that could inadvertently surrender technological achievements to competitors.
• Day, Lt. Col. Timothy, "Listening in the Twilight: A Deliberate Strategy for Emergent Innovations," AWC SSP, 2020, 37 pgs. 
  • Highlights the specific platforms the Air Force uses to crowdsource innovative ideas and emergent technologies from both within the military and across the commercial sector. The paper points to AFWERX as the primary organization facilitating connections between industry, academia, and the military, alongside crowdsourcing programs and competitions like IdeaScale, Spark Tank, and Innovation Rodeos. It argues that utilizing these platforms to capture developments from multiple disciplines creates the organizational capacity needed to harness emergent innovations for the joint force.
• George. Maj. Benjamin, "3D Printing in the Air Force: Dispelling the Myths of Additive Manufacturing," AF Fellows (Oak Ridge Laboratory), 2014, 70 pgs. 

  • Answers this question by proposing that the military utilize 3D printing to capitalize on crowd-sourced designs, modeling the approach after commercial companies like Local Motors that use collective design and rapid manufacturing to field new vehicles. By allowing for crowd-sourced designs or redesigns, the military could rapidly update its equipment and create innovative new capabilities to address capability and capacity gaps. To balance the inherent security concerns—such as cyberattacks that could result in the theft of digital part designs or sabotage through the insertion of physical defects—the author recommends adopting a comprehensive 3D printing security posture. Specifically, the military should utilize cloud-based digital security services that stream part designs directly to 3D printers from a secure cloud, much like how Spotify streams music. By ensuring that the digital designs are never saved directly on the user's computer or the 3D printer itself, the Air Force can protect critical military part designs from stateside factories all the way to the front lines while safely leveraging the benefits of crowd-sourced innovation.     

  • Smith, Lt. Col. Benjamin, "Stop Strangling Innovation: Creating Space for Innovators in the Air Force," AFGC thesis, 2024, 43 pgs. 

    • Answers the question by exploring how the Air Force can internally crowdsource solutions to capability gaps by empowering "intrapreneurs" (innovative Airmen) through internal hackathons and crowdfunding campaigns. The paper explains that large military bureaucracies naturally suppress innovation through strict regulations designed to minimize risk to the mission. To balance these vital security and operational concerns with the need for rapid capability development, Smith recommends creating a structured organizational "space" featuring tiered innovation time-off, dedicated internal research funding, and measured regulatory waivers. By utilizing secure, accessible modeling and simulation tools alongside organized hackathons, the Air Force can safely crowdsource and test internal solutions without exposing the current mission or physical equipment to unacceptable risks.
• Truong, Ryan T., "Upgrading Cyber-Security Protection of the Defense Industrial Base Small and Medium Companies to Protect against Cybersecurity Threats," AFGC thesis, 2020, 36 pgs. 
  • Addresses the security-balancing aspect of the question by exploring ways to improve the cybersecurity resiliency of small and medium-sized companies within the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). The paper emphasizes that for the Department of Defense to safely utilize these smaller commercial companies to resolve capacity gaps, it must actively develop solutions to protect these vulnerable DIB networks against cyber-attacks and safeguard critical information from adversaries.
• Wing, Maj. Ryan D., "Maximizing the Benefits of Defense Innovation," AFGC thesis, 2025, 39 pgs.
  • Examines how to coordinate the sprawling defense innovation ecosystem—which currently includes over 200 siloed agencies—to accelerate the transition of commercial technologies into the military-industrial complex. Wing argues that while the DoD spends heavily on crowdsourcing avenues like the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and DIU, the lack of central coordination leaves small enterprises unable to navigate the system, resulting in wasted investments and failed technology transitions. To effectively crowdsource solutions while maintaining strategic security, the paper recommends establishing formalized coordination mechanisms between acquisition and engineering offices, streamlining contracts, and more clearly communicating priority problem sets to the commercial sector. This focused alignment allows the DoD to safely leverage free-market creativity to fill critical capability gaps without replicating the coercive military-civil fusion models of its adversaries.