Innovating for National Security (i4NS)
Innovating for National Security (i4NS) is a quarter-long program that offers U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) leaders an opportunity to collaborate with talented student teams to develop innovative solutions to their most pressing national security problems. Through student teams, the DOD is provided an avenue to connect with problem-solvers from academia, the private sector, and other non-traditional DOD partners.
The course provides student teams with a deep understanding of selected national security related problems and potential solutions which might be arrayed against them. Using the Lean LaunchPad Methodology the course encourages student teams to:
- Solve complex real-world problems
- Rapidly iterate solutions while searching for product-market fit
- Understand all stakeholders, roll-out issues, costs, resources, and ultimate market / mission value
- Deliver minimum viable products matching customer needs in a narrow window
- Produce a repeatable model which can launch other potential solutions
From Immersive Learning to Validated Insights
Through this course, you will work in a real life startup environment with team members from diverse backgrounds and expertise, network across different industries, and improve your public speaking and project management. At the end of the course, you will have requisite experience commercial and national security-related companies and organizations seek in their future employees.
The course is team-based with related work and study completed in teams. In addition to the instructors, each team will be assigned a mentor (an experienced entrepreneur or subject matter expert) and a contact from the problem sponsor at DOD.
At the end of ten weeks, you and your team will provide a solution to an existing problem provided by the DOD while learning to develop prototypes that match DOD users’ needs.
The Innovating for National Security (i4NS) is not a product incubator for a specific technology solution. Instead, you will learn Lean Startup principles to gain a deeper understanding of selected problems, develop sustainable, user-centered solutions, and learn to work with the DoD and IC teams.
Learn Lean Startup techniques for startup success and solve real problems.
Solve real life, pressing issues faced by US government agencies alongside field experts while learning and applying best practices of innovation and entrepreneurship
Tackle complex problems critical to the government around national security, health, energy infrastructure, cybersecurity, and AI/ML; develop new solutions with a team of industry and national security experts!
Program Details
Winter Quarter 2023: January 4 - March 17Wednesdays, 4:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
- AIP 197: 4 units
- 10 weekly class meetings
- Application Opens on October 18, 2022 - Enroll with the Academic Internship Program.
2023 Problem Sets
Check out this informational program deck to review this quarter's problem sets.
Submit your problem set preferences today!
How to Apply:
- Application is by individual or teams of 4 - 5 UC San Diego students from any school or department
- Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning September 2022.
For questions, please contact oic-marketing@ucsd.edu.
Eligibility
The i4NS internship is open to all UC San Diego graduate and junior/senior undergraduate students in good academic standing. We welcome students from all disciplines to come together to show off the true power in the diversity of UC San Diego!
International students are eligible to participate. Participants are required to attend all in-class sessions.
Curriculum
Here is a past example of our curriculum.
Spring 2021
| Module | Date | Lecture Topic | Teaching Team |
| 1 | 23 March | Introduction to Working with DoD/IC and Customer Development | TBA |
| 2 | 30 March | Mission Model Canvas | TBA |
| 3 | 6 April | Beneficiaries, Stakeholders, and Customer Discovery | TBA |
| 4 | 13 April | Value Proposition | TBA |
| 5 | 20 April | Product/Sponsor Fit & Multi-Use | TBA |
| 6 | 27 April | Mission Achievement | TBA |
| 7 | 4 May | Buy-in Support/Development | TBA |
| 8 | 11 May | Activities, Resources, and Key Partners | TBA |
| 9 | 18 May | Costs & Operating Plan | TBA |
| 10 | 25 May | Reflections | TBA |
| 10A | 2 June | Final Presentations | Teaching Team |
Earn Academic Internship Credit
Enroll with the Academic Internship Program.
Internship Dates: January 9, 2023 - March 17, 2023
Application |
Dates |
Deadline to submit Learning Agreement to AIP via InternLink |
December 2, 2022 |
Deadline to enroll via WebReg |
January 13, 2023 |
Send questions about AIP enrollment to the Academic Internship Program via the Virtual Advising Center (http://vac.ucsd.edu).
Time Commitment
This course moves fast! The program includes assigned reading/videos, interviewing homework, weekly in-class lectures/discussions, and group meetings outside of lecture with sponsors. Teams will arrive on their first day having read the pre-calls material prepared to work on their chosen problem.
Recommended Prep: Customer Discovery Workshop
This workshop is not a prerequisite for the course, but attendance is highly recommended to better prepare for the i4NS course.
Why build something that no one wants? Don’t waste time and effort on the wrong idea. Increase your chance at success with our Customer Discovery Workshop! Customer Development is a process for questioning your core assumptions about an idea, business, etc. Your product or business idea fundamentally starts with an implicit or explicit assumption about three things- the customer, the problem, and the solution. At this workshop, you will learn interview skills, identify users and test out your assumptions and apply what you’ve learned.
To learn how, register for one of our upcoming Customer Discovery Workshops:
Saturday, October 22, 2022
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PST
Saturday, November 5, 2022
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. PST