Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Adrian Grosu

The US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has opened Moonshot Labs, its first unclassified innovation space.

The shared-workspace labs, located at the T-REX innovation and entrepreneur centre in St Louis, aim to foster collaboration among government, industry and academic geospatial community members in the St Louis region.

Unlike previous NGA buildings and workspaces that have unclassified areas, Moonshot Labs was designed to be a completely open from the outset, said NGA Director, Navy Vice Admiral Robert Sharp.

The unclassified environment will enable the agency’s workforce to collaborate face-to-face with traditional and non-traditional partners throughout the geospatial community.

The US and NGA have competitors and adversaries who are also working toward supremacy in geospatial technology and innovation, says Sharp.

“But they don’t have our friends, and those friends share a wealth of diverse perspectives, expertise and ideas with all of us. And that’s our secret sauce. That’s why we’ll prevail,” he said.

Last year, Sharp challenged the agency’s workforce and the geospatial community with a call to action known as the NGA Moonshot, a plan that maps out a path to maintaining NGA’s position as the leader in geospatial intelligence.

Sharp’s call to action was to deliver GEOINT with the speed, accuracy and precision required to protect the nation and stay ahead of adversaries.

“Our Moonshot is an all-of-enterprise effort to speed up the delivery of the capabilities necessary to deliver that trusted geospatial intelligence our military, policymakers and first-responders require,” said Sharp.

“All with the speed, accuracy and precision required to project power and defend the United States and our allies.”

NGA will open a new standalone campus in St Louis in 2025, offering an innovation centre with unclassified, collaborative workspace.

But Sharp said the Moonshot Labs workspace at T-REX will enable the NGA and partners to get started before that campus comes along.

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