Early Outcomes from the Innovation Initiative at the Aerospace Corporation

The aerospace industry is undergoing tremendous changes causing a shift in focus, methodology, and the speed of innovation. At the same time, the “NewSpace” sector of the aerospace industry consists of almost 1,000 companies focused on creating different business models for accessing space. As a result, the role of The Aerospace Corporation (Aerospace) as a trusted advisor to the U.S. government, is taking on a new focus. The speed and agility of the NewSpace sector is pushing Aerospace to elevate our culture of innovation. In this paper, we describe the programs we created to stimulate an innovative culture and some examples of employee innovation that have resulted from those programs.