U.S. Navy and Open Innovation for Disaster Response
The U.S. Navy has signed a deal with software company Modus Operandi Inc., for the provision of a new crowdsourcing analysis system.
The software will help emergency response teams during disasters and social unrest.
Modus Operandi is one of several companies that have been approached to help the U.S. Navy devise a system that collects eyewitness and participant data during major events and fuses them with information from other sources.
The aim is to provide responders and security forces with accurate, relevant and timely information that filters all data sources to allow only the most pertinent information through. This will involve analysis of what comes in via social media.
Social Media Responses
“It has become clear that during recent world events, people use social media to immediately discuss what is happening, but the sheer amount of data from all the social media sources is overwhelming,” said Dr. Teresa Nieten, research scientist, Modus Operandi.
“Our system will address that issue by providing a platform similar to social media for willing participants to provide the most relevant information that first-responders and commanders can use to assess the situation before a response team arrives.”
Embracing Open Innovation
This initiative is another example of how the U.S. Defense industry is embracing open innovation and crowdsourcing, practices that are more familiar in the business world and health and community sectors.
Other examples include programs organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). They include the world’s first crowdsourced military vehicle and a project to help the military reconstruct shredded documents.
Reader Comments
Modus Operandi is actually an American software company, based in Melbourne, FL.
Posted by Neal Stein on August 27, 2013
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