SBIR-STTR Award

Project Lyceum: A system of tools and services for self-paced education (modularized, on-command, on-demand learning, and competence-based) strategic wargaming, engagement and interaction, high-quality open-source analysis on a range of functional and geographic areas, and other modes of career- and skill-development for national security and Air Force professionals in the Age of Lifelong Learning. This will be an app-based, device agnostic, and globally accessible system of learning and professional development tools and services. Through its unparalleled network of national security experts, unmatched credibility in defense thought leadership, and proven experience in leveraging technology and content to build virtual learning communities, War on the Rocks is uniquely well-positioned to create this product. This is bolstered by letters of support from Air Education & Training Command – the envisioned Air Force customer – as well as relevant prospective commercial customers. The end-user will be every servicemember in the U.S. armed services, beginning with the A

War on the Rocks Media connects, informs, and educates national security practitioners, military personnel, policymakers, scholars, students, and the interested public. ‘Project Lyceum’ is LaaS (learning as a service) that integrates SaaS delivery and expert creative content into a vertical integrated system for national security professional education and development. It includes self-paced education (modularized, on-command, on-demand learning, and competence-based) wargaming, engagement and collaboration, high-quality open-source analysis on a range of functional and geographic areas, and other modes of career- and skill-development for national security and Air Force professionals in the Age of Lifelong Learning. It will be a device agnostic, and globally accessible system of learning and professional development as a service. Through its unparalleled network of national security experts, unmatched credibility in defense thought leadership, and proven experience in leveraging technology and content to build virtual learning communities, War on the Rocks is uniquely well-positioned to create this product and has an MOU from Air Education & Training Command, the customer, as well as prospective commercial customers. The end-user will be Air Force servicemembers with a vision to expand to all U.S. servicemembers and workers who deal with national security throughout the public and private (finance, technology, professional associations, education, and more) sectors. In addition to meeting the goals of the U.S. Air Force Strategic Master Plan and the new Air Force continuum of learning, this product will solve identified major problems of private sector organizations, to include: (a) tech companies, (b) financial firms, (c) universities, (d) and member-benefit professional associations in the national security space. There is a profound hunger among our targeted Air Force end-users for such a service. In a survey we conducted of Air Force personnel (predominantly officers but ranging from E-6 to O-6), 97% of respondents disclosed a desire for more opportunities for professional education and development outside the schoolhouse. But the benefits are not just for learners. The unification of these disparate content sources with enterprise content and learning tools will also allow the Air Force to develop an institutional “all-seeing-eye” that can track learner participation, performance, aggregated wargame results, and more. Ultimately, this platform could be leveraged to inform assignments and allow the Air Force to leverage human capital to the greatest extent, allowing each servicemember to achieve their full potential. This will be the first product to put military and civilian learners in the public and private sector into the same learning ecosystem. It will integrate proven technologies with the infusion of high-quality educational and experiential c