Here are some updates on the Defence Team Innovation Challenge Top 10:

The winning challenger, Defence Renewable Energy Autonomous and Modular System (DREAMS) , submitted by a talented team from 35 Brigade C Army, is developing a portable and scalable electrical production and management tools, based on renewable energy. Their innovation is being met with great success and a more detailed article on its latest developments will be posted soon.

An honourable mention went to 3D Printing Center of Excellence,   aiming at focusing current CAF 3D printing initiatives, organize and develop policy that would maximize efficiency, minimize risk, and preserve economy of effort. This project was a collaborative endeavour of RCN, C Army, DRDC, ADM(MAT) and CANSOFCOM, presented by LCdr John Faurbo and MCpl David Davis. It has been brought to higher level management and is being explored for implementation with keen interest.

Other top 10 contenders involving data and digitization like the Knowledge Management System (KMS 2.0)   and the User Admin Tool  are being encouraged by the DIA organization.

The KMS 2.0 project, brought forward by Major David Dunwoody of RCAF Barker College, aims at improving shared knowledge through the use of data analytics and an Answer Garden to update and store commonly answered questions which will increase user-efficiency in finding and accessing relevant and accurate knowledge. A smaller project is currently being considered and scoped to start with a single military personnel policy document like the CAF Dress Manual.

The User Admin Tool, submitted by Kevin Bouchard of 3 CDSG Sig Sqn Det Shilo, will deploy automated processing of DWAN user account requests for new accounts, name changes, deployments, postings, extended leaves and releases. This tool would strengthen user satisfaction, enhance security and enable unit representatives with more efficient capability. Its development is well under way and we look forward to checking in as it progresses.

Championed by the Information Management organization, the Canadian Common Access Card (CANCAC)  is a collaborative initiative led by the DIMEI team and is being considered for pilot in partnership with several other organizations and stakeholders. This project, built on positive user experience, security and operational efficiency, proposes to consolidate multiple cards into one common access card and provide strong, secure and streamlined access to buildings, data and services.

The Finance organization has strong interest in seeing the success of the Approval Management System  submission by Maj Carolyn Fairweather, a web-based approval management application. This project would provide a modernized multi-level approach to streamline financial and administrative approval processes utilizing an easy to use dashboard interface and automated workflow. A working group is currently exploring implementation of e-approval on travel forms as a project of high interest for their higher level management.

The Defence Team Innovation Challenge (DTIC), a Blueprint 2020 initiative, now falls under the Beyond 2020 portfolio that has been folded into the new   in 2019. For more information, reach out to the DIA Innovation Team by emailing +Innovation@ADM(DIA).