Sept 17, 2024
Release Number 20240917-01
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TAMPA, Fla. - U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) will host Innovation Oasis III, a service member-driven competition designed to recognize, elevate, and leverage the innovative ideas and proposals of service members from across the command in Tampa, Fla., Sept. 18.
Innovation Oasis is a “Shark Tank”-like competition where service members and civilian government employees pitch and highlight their innovative ideas for potential official implementation within the combatant command. Eleven finalists for this year’s competition were selected from each service component and CENTCOM Headquarters. Finalists have 10 minutes to pitch their initiatives, followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers from a panel of judges. Finalists will be judged by originality, scalability of the concept, and overall presentation. The winner will be announced the same day, Sep. 18.
“It’s imperative that we empower our people to innovate and look to the future; this year’s competition is part of our continuing effort to remain at the cutting edge of warfighting and identify new, novel ways to meet our command objectives,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, Commander, U.S. Central Command. “The Innovation Oasis event series enables our service members to share their ideas with the highest levels of Command leadership, nurturing a culture of innovation across the Command.”