WORKERA CORP. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: X224-ODCSO1

Description

America’s technological advantage is eroding. Over the last decade, China has poured billions of dollars into initiatives to overtake the West as a leader in technology such as 5G networks, biotechnology, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. In 2017, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China released a plan to make China the global leader in artificial intelligence and data by 2030. USAF Gen Paul J. Selva, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned that the Chinese military could reach technological parity with the United States in the early 2020s and outpace the Pentagon in the 2030s, if the U.S. military doesn’t respond to the challenge. Cultivating talent and blending military and civilian expertise and knowledge is one of six foundational aims of China’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) Development Strategy to “fuse” its economic and social development strategies into an integrated national strategic system. And they are at a major population advantage over America in this regard — with a population more than 4 times that of the United States, and as of 2016, producing more than 8 times the number of STEM graduates, with the overall rate of university graduates growing 10 times faster than in America and Europe. Taking the threat of data and AI dominance from foreign adversaries seriously, Congress included language in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act providing direction on use of direct hiring processes for artificial intelligence professionals and other data science and software development personnel. In response to the ongoing critical need to increase the Air Force’s pool of technical talent, BESPIN (Business and Enterprise Systems Product Innovation) launched Digital University (DU) in June 2020 to provide cutting-edge data training throughout the Air Force and Space Force.    While DU has some of the right educational content from traditional learning resources like Udemy, Udacity and DataCamp, Workera is poised to supercharge the efficiency and efficacy of the DU platform by incorporating its computer adaptive skills assessments and AI-driven learning paths. Workera assesses an individual’s mastery in thousands of micro-skills needed for jobs in AI and data analytics via adaptive tests, and its algorithms then provide an incredibly customized list of open-source educational resources for a learner to fill in the individual gaps they may have. This precisely tailored approach results in reductions to training time of 40-70% compared to traditional one-size-fits-all training, thanks to eliminating redundancy in coursework. Workera solves the problem of how to guide Airmen into educational material in the most time-saving, cost-effective way possible. Companies like Samsung, Accenture, Siemens, GE Healthcare, Janssen and Merck are already using Workera to efficiently train and recruit their workforce.