BRICC PIA Helps Enable SparkTank 2023

The SparkTank 2023 winner, 'Fan Favorite' and Top 6 Finalists posing with their trophies.

For the past six years, the Air Force has held the SparkTank campaign to gather Airmen and Guardians’ most innovative ideas to create solutions and new capabilities for the Air Force of the future. The BRICC PIA is proud to have provided critical support to making SparkTank 2023 a success.

SparkTank gives Airmen and Guardians the opportunity to submit and vote on the most impactful innovations so that the very best can gain funding and support to move toward production. This year, SparkTank garnered 235 innovation submissions. Throughout the year those innovations were pared down to this year’s winner: “Infrastructure in an Augmented Reality World.”

The BRICC was there every step of the way, performing a wide range of meaningful tasks. These tasks included coordinating schedules and weekly meetings to move the campaign forward, assisting in developing and executing the marketing plan to garner submissions and votes on ideas, and ensuring in-person and virtual meetings run smoothly so that the judges and innovators could focus on the ideas and not worry about the “behind the scenes” work. BRICC PIA personnel even assisted with coaching SparkTank finalists on their pitches, during the week of finals, so that they could put their ideas’ best foot forward.

This year’s winner, “Infrastructure in an Augmented Reality World,” came from Lt. Col. Mark Wagner, 374th Contracting Squadron, Master Sgt. Sarah Hubert, 374th Airlift Wing, and Tech. Sgt. Raymond Zgoda, 353rd Special Operations Wing and 374th Civil Engineer Squadron.

Their innovation pairs augmented reality technology with microwave sensing to provide 3D mapping capabilities of underground infrastructure that may not be accurately mapped on military bases. This technology can prevent problems such as one Tech. Sgt. Zgoda experienced when digging a trench while stationed in Iraq in 2006. The communications at his forward operating base were knocked out for two days after he accidentally hit a fiber optic cable that was not marked on the infrastructure maps given to his unit. This innovation could save valuable time and cost during construction and could possibly save lives by ensuring critical infrastructure remains operational.

Even though this year’s SparkTank campaign is over, the innovation continues. Just because other ideas submitted were not selected to win does not mean they did not have merit. Many of the ideas from the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals are under review to determine which others are worthy of future backing. The BRICC PIA will continue to support these activities as well as future SparkTank campaigns to help build the Future Force!

SparkTank is jointly sponsored by SAF/MG, the Office of the Under Secretary of the Air Force, and AFWERX, the Air Force’s innovation hub.