Donald Kelley is a panelist for the Potomac Officers Club’s 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on January 31, 2024. Read on to know more about this executive and event.
Who Is Donald Kelley?
Donald Kelly is a Headquarters Marine Corps Aviation Cunningham Group and Advanced Development Team member at the U.S. Marine Corps.
Through the years, Donald Kelley has a career that has revolved in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he took on diverse roles and responsibilities. He is the Future Concepts & Capabilities RDT&E Project Manager, RDT&E Portfolio Manager, and Executive Officer.
Throughout his career, Mr. Donald Kelley has gained expertise in unmanned aircraft systems, aviation safety, project management, and weapons and tactics instruction.
Donald Kelley as a Panelist for the Potomac Officers Club’s 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit
The Potomac Officers Club is hosting the 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit. This will bring together leading defense officials, innovators, and influential figures to explore the most recent advancements in cutting-edge technology for the U.S. military.
This event on January 31, 2024, will take place at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.
Donald Kelley will be joined by William Bailey, Mike Loomis, and Christopher Yaw as panelists for “Innovation to Implementation” at the summit.
See the event details here | Register here
What Is Innovation to Implementation?
Technology transfer is the step that takes innovative technology and implements it for effective use where it matters. While many new tools and ideas are coming out of research, making them work smoothly for real-world situations is no easy task.
The federal government focuses on fulfilling this objective, so several contracting partners and collaborations exist for this process. However, it’s not easy to bring new advances into its operations, such as system upgrades, equipment advancements, and workflow recalibration, which can be disruptive.
In addition, the slow movement of technology gets even worse given the lack of skilled employees for the job and the high turnover rates in the government.
Examples of successful innovation implementation in the U.S. federal government include:
The Department of Defense’s Innovate Beyond 5G Program
The Department of Defense is researching and implementing open-source 5G technology to support new and improved capabilities beyond regular 5G. Open6G brings together industry and universities to advance research on 6G systems using open radio access networks.
Open6G will focus on research and implementing features from the 5G protocol stack to support the development of new applications beyond what regular 5G can offer.
The DOD sees Open6G as an important hub for developing, testing, and integrating trusted enhancements. It supports the broader NextG ecosystem involving the industry and the federal government in pursuing 6G technology goals.
The Defense Innovation Board’s Strategies
The 2022 National Defense Strategy and the 2023 National Defense Science & Technology Strategy highlight the importance of using information effectively called “data economy.”
The Department of Defense should use data better to improve its operations. Initiatives like Replicator, Task Force Lima, and Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control are part of the DoD’s efforts to create a more connected future force.
To make these initiatives successful, the DoD must develop a modern, standardized data system across the entire department. It should assess the gaps in the DoD’s current data system and suggest steps to establish a reliable and easily accessible data ecosystem by 2025.
