“The Department of Veterans Affairs sees value in a disciplined and cohesive approach to innovation. The agency wants to leverage artificial intelligence, and agency leaders gave the public a view into how that will play out.”
“‘Emerging tech is a tool, not an end unto itself,’ said VA Chief Statistician David Maron at the Oct. 10 FCW IT Modernization Summit in Washington, D.C. ‘There is a strong need for subject matter experts in a [research and development] effort. … We need to bring together a variety of skill sets.’”
“In addition to AI, the agency is exploring how to build in-house expertise in 5G technology, 3D printing and quantum computing, Maron said.”
“Collaborating with the private sector could be fruitful toward these efforts. The VA is currently partnering with industry in a planned series of AI-focused tech sprints intended to facilitate forward-looking innovation…”
“Central to the proposed solutions is a rigorous attentiveness to the VA’s proposed cloud-computing roadmap. The agency has already undertaken concrete plans to secure its data demands through cloud development.”
“’By 2024, we will migrate half of our applications to a cloud environment,’ Gfrerer said. This encompasses a careful attention to preexisting VA IT. ‘How are we refactoring these legacy systems… so we don’t have problems when we get to a cloud environment?’”
“The VA is also taking steps to bring in talent and foster a broad range of IT talent via private sector recruitment…” Read the full article here.
Source: VA Aims to Pair Innovation with Disciplined Rollout – By Adam Patterson, October 11, 2019. GovernmentCIO.
