GTRI team members have expressed an overwhelming desire to improve the human condition. It is an inspiration to have a workforce that places a priority on humanity. Our mission extends beyond the State of Georgia; it challenges us to look beyond borders and apply our skillsets to improve everyone’s lives. The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals are a guidepost for this mission. The strategic plan will lay the groundwork for us to explore how our core capabilities, combined with those of Georgia Tech and external partners, can catapult us into leadership roles in addressing the critical issues impacting the human condition.

Saying we are going to expand our innovation is just one small step forward. Real change happens when we make innovation a priority. We as an organization need to dedicate time and effort to innovative thinking and experimenting. We need to value the time spent exploring and collaborating in order to achieve progress in both our research and operational areas. National security work is our core, but this capability allows us to support other areas and provide needed solutions.

The virtuous cycle of work like what the Delta team has built over the last few years is an innovative way to provide value to both our Department of Defense (DoD) sponsors and local industry. This effort has leveraged our core competencies and delivered innovative solutions. Out-of-the-box thinking allowed these programs to prosper and provided the highest level of impact to each of our sponsors involved. We need to explore additional sponsors and technologies that will benefit from this approach.

GTRI also needs to focus on key strategic hires in technical areas where we can continue to influence and lead. These strategic hires will help us expand our technical horizons and reach new and exciting areas.

Key Strategies:

• Generate resident instruction and external partnerships that utilize GTRI’s core capabilities to address the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
• Dedicate a subset of IRAD and business development funds to addressing dual-use opportunities.
• Generate one technical “big bet” that expands our core competencies in an area that is dual-use to national security and improving the human condition.
• Make strategic hires in areas that address improving the human condition.
• Generate and support processes for innovation across the 17 SDGs.