The General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) has announced the opening of the GDIT Emerge Innovation Center at its headquarters in Falls Church, Va., to better serve its government customers.
The Emerge Innovation Center is GDIT’s latest research and development (R&D) expansion, and it is a key part of the company’s technology investment strategy launched in May.
The strategy focuses on six “digital accelerator solutions” for its government, defense, and intelligence market customers. These six focus areas are zero trust security, automation for IT operations, multi-cloud management, software factories, 5G wireless, and AI/ML.
“Our customers’ needs have evolved, and they require innovation much faster,” Amy Gilliland, GDIT’s president, said in a press release. “We have increased investments in our Digital Consulting Practice and expanded R&D to ensure we remain at the forefront of technology advancements. The innovation center will facilitate collaboration and accelerate solution development for agency missions.”
The approximately 6,200-square-foot center will be used to demonstrate GDIT’s Digital Accelerator solutions to customers, as well as to collaborate with customers and commercial technology providers to develop prototypes and tech solutions.
It will also showcase new innovations, such as GDIT Raven, “a mobile command center capable of collecting, analyzing, and distributing mission-critical information at the tactical edge,” the company said.
In addition to the GDIT Emerge Innovation Center, the company has also opened R&D labs that are aligned to specific customers or technologies, such as the 5G lab near its headquarters.
In an exclusive interview with MeriTalk, Gilliland said that because the GDIT Emerge Innovation Center and 5G lab are so close to each other, she likes to think of them as a “corridor of opportunities” to show customers.
“When you think about the innovation center and 5G lab together, we are getting together with pretty good regularity [with customers],” Gilliland said. “Our customers – I don’t know if it’s pent-up post-COVID demand – they want to get out there, they’re willing to come out, and particularly if you show them a technology roadmap that is applicable to them.”
“Through these labs and the innovation center, we’ve been able to bring customers in and sit down and talk to them about their short, middle, and long-range strategy with illustrative demonstrations of technology at work today,” she added.
