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Seeking out new technology or exciting ideas at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Global is something of a treasure hunt. Dr. Scott Walper, science director, ONR Global, says the search for innovative projects can take him and his team of program officers all over the world, relying on a bit of luck — or serendipity — to strike gold. But recently, Walper said he and his predecessor for Synthetic Biology at ONR Global, Dr. Patrick Rose, who is now with SPRIND (Germany’s Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation) had an idea to try something a little different. Walper said, “The thought was we would put out a call for a ‘Serendipity Collective,’ where we would sponsor a workshop and ask people to tell us their craziest ideas”. To attract innovators, the team worked with the company IdeatePlus. Walper said Kevin D'Silva, IdeatePlus CEO, and his team were instrumental in helping develop and manage the event, setting up a web-based platform to crowdsource and push out a social media campaign. The website generated 73 concepts from more than 225 active participants. The information was collected and shared it with a team of experts, including an artist, engineer, scientist and someone from the humanities. The experts scored proposals based on originality and feasibility. Eight teams were then invited to the “Serendipity Collective” held in Berlin in May. From those core concepts, another panel of experts composed of representatives from ONR Global, DEVCOM, the VW (Volkswagen) Foundation and SPRIND picked the ones they wanted to sponsor with an award of $50,000 to kick-start their efforts.

On Feb. 28, Navy officials announced the firing of the Navy's first industry-built electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher.

With guidance from ONR's TechSolutions Program, NAVSEA partnered with NCTRF to design a new steam suit for use on nuclear-powered submarines. The suit currently is being tested during at-sea drills on the USS Toledo.

For creating the most comprehensive global map of the ocean floor, ONR performer Dr. David Sandwell received the Charles A. Whitten Medal, sponsored by the American Geophysical Union.

ONR recently tested the new Mine Warfare Rapid Assessment Capability (MIW RAC), an unmanned aerial drone that detects mines and provides real-time search data to a handheld device.

ONR SCOUT is an ongoing, multiagency campaign to identify new ways to bring novel capabilities to warfighter challenges, experiment with them in realistic operating conditions, and operationalize them in partnership with the fleet and force. As part of its continued evolution, SCOUT is now partnering with U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) to address problem areas identified by both warfighters and senior leadership. The SCOUT team is inviting industry partners to discuss cutting-edge concepts and solutions during an Industry Innovation Exchange on Tuesday, April 4, during the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition, held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

As the global automobile industry considers alternative energy sources to replace the traditional internal combustion engine, Jessie Pacheco, a mail clerk at Camp Pendleton, has been making his rounds to Marines in General Motors (GM) Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicles (FCVs).

An Underwater Drone That Works With Men and Dolphins

Assessing surf zone conditions has never been an exact science for the Department of the Navy. That’s about to change thanks to a recent request to TechSolutions, which has resulted in new surf observation (SUROB) technology to make operational forecasts more precise. For the past six months, a team of scientists and engineers from the Naval Research Lab (NRL) and the U.S. Army’s Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) have been developing the technological tools needed to create a more precise surf observation report. In order to gain greater insight into how the surf observation tool may improve warfighter operations, NavalX recently organized a workshop that brought together the science and engineering developers with the Sailors and Marines who would use it. TechSolutions received the request less than a year ago for a technology-driven solution for surf observation from Maj. Zachary Taylor, a technology officer with the Marines’ Warfighting Lab. Within weeks, TechSolutions began working with the development team at NRL and ERDC to come up with a prototype.

The stuff of Army and Marine Corps boot camp is legendary - mud, grueling marches, hours of, climbing and crawling with the requisite 100-lb pack, through smoke, barbed wire, gun and missile fire, with sweat, little sleep, scanty rations, and punishing, in-your-face "trainers." The culminating final...