Helping to transform how government agencies assess and train their personnel
Workera has been selected by AFWERX to receive a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) in the amount of $1.25M USD, focused on precision upskilling and investigating its potential to fill capability gaps in the Department of the Air Force (DAF).
The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through a faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and losing bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering 'The Open Topic' SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and now Workera has started its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
“The capability to accurately assess individual skill levels throughout the analytic community is fundamental to transforming our workforce into a strategic asset.” - David Pendergraft, Chief Civilian Analyst, United States Air Force.
Workera has also announced a new strategic partnership with In-Q-Tel (IQT), the not-for-profit strategic investor, that accelerates the development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies to U.S. government agencies and their allies.
About Workera
Workera’s Skills Intelligence Platform redefines how enterprises understand, develop, and mobilize talent. By focusing on innovation for all skill levels across data, AI, software, cloud, and cyber, Workera unlocks the skills data that drives innovation across talent strategies in hiring, upskilling, mobility, and mentorship.
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Workera is backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Owl Ventures, and Andrew Ng’s AI Fund. Its CEO and co-founder is Kian Katanforoosh, an award-winning Stanford Computer Science Lecturer who has taught AI to over 1 million people. Dr. Andrew Ng is Chairman of Workera, and is a co-founder of Coursera (NYSE: COUR), CEO of DeepLearning.AI, and founding lead of the Google Brain project.
Learn more about Workera’s Skills Intelligence Platform
About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space, and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 11,000 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development.
Learn more about AFRL
About AFWERX
AFWERX, a program office at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), connects innovators across government, industry and academia. Through innovation and collaboration with our nation’s top subject-matter experts and harnessing the power of ingenuity of internal talent, by expanding technology, talent, and transition partnerships for rapid and affordable commercial and military capability.
Learn more about AFWERX
About AFVentures
AFVentures invests in emerging technologies to scale Department of the Air Force capabilities, strengthening the US industrial base that empowers Airmen and Guardians by incentivizing private, for-profit investment in national security interests. Our success is achieved by connecting novel commercial solutions with defense problem sets, de-risking Airmen and Guardian initiatives to fill capability gaps and transition technologies.
Learn more about AFVentures
