Securing the Future Through Total Innovation.

The $1 million algorithm that transformed bio-threat detection

Develop an algorithm to rapidly characterise complex clinical samples from raw DNA sequence data, enabling near-real-time identification of biological threats. Existing methods took weeks of analysis.

Winner: Team Huson — Daniel Huson (University of Tübingen), Benjamin Buchfink, and Xie Chao (Singapore). Scientists not previously known to the U.S. government.

Winning solution: A novel algorithm that reduced pathogen identification time from weeks to tens of minutes.

Prize

$1,000,000

Year

2012–2013

Outcome

The $1 million prize is the largest single award in Innocentive’s history. Prize awarded at a Pentagon ceremony in December 2013.

The UK Ministry of Defence’s enterprise innovation transformation

The MOD’s prior GEMS scheme, operating since 1990, generated approximately £50 million in savings over six years from 7,000 ideas but engaged only about 3% of the defence population.

Solution: Wazoku.ai deployed across the Royal Navy, British Army, RAF, Joint Forces Command, and Defence Infrastructure Organisation.

“Breaking down the traditional silos of defence working.” — Stuart Laws (MOD)

Contract

£400,000

Year

2019

Outcome

Target: £150 million in efficiency savings. 4x the value from Royal Navy Challenges by connecting with companies the MOD didn’t know existed.

A retired Peruvian engineer solved the Air Force’s vehicle-stopping problem

Find a way to safely stop a fleeing vehicle without injuring the occupants — a critical force protection challenge for military installations and checkpoints worldwide.

Winner: Dante Barbis, a retired 66-year-old mechanical engineer from Lima, Peru — no defence background.

Winning solution: A remote electric vehicle that deploys a restrained airbag to lift and immobilise the target vehicle.

“Open innovation is a real force multiplier for the AFRL.” — Alok Das, AFRL

Year

2011

Outcome

1,071 solvers; 119 solutions. Funding allocated for prototype testing.

NATO DIANA: powering innovation across 32 allied nations

DIANA is NATO’s flagship innovation accelerator, operating 23+ accelerator sites and 182+ test centres across 28 allied countries.

Wazoku’s role: Wazoku provides the operational backbone for DIANA’s day-to-day operations, including stakeholder engagement, submission tracking, feedback collection, calls for mentors and experts, and ecosystem management.

“Managing this strategic programme via email, spreadsheets and other piecemeal tools is not an option.” — Simon Hill, Wazoku CEO

Year

2024

Outcome

First cohort: 44 companies from 1,300+ applicants. 2026 cohort: 2,600+ applications, 150 innovators across 10 challenge areas.

New Zealand Defence Force: cross-domain solutions in months

NZDF needed innovative approaches to prevent marine organism growth on naval hulls — a problem with significant operational, environmental, and cost implications.

“It’s unlikely we ever would have found them without partnering with Wazoku.” — Janelle Aitken, Acting Director Operations Support

Prize

£15,000

Outcome

Solutions delivered in just a few months from solvers on the other side of the world, applying technologies from entirely different industries.

IWTSD: a decade of irregular warfare innovation

Key challenges: Over-the-Air Power Siphon ($50,000) — remotely drain power from IED batteries; Smart Summary ($100,000) — intelligence data summarisation; MoSAIC ($600,000) — remote autonomous indoor manoeuvre (joint with Israel DDR&D).

Demonstrates Wazoku’s ability to handle classified and sensitive defence challenges while facilitating international defence cooperation between the U.S., Singapore, and Israel.

Partnership

10+ years

Challenges

11+

Crowdsourcing the neutralisation of chemical weapons in Syria

Find novel approaches to the neutralisation of approximately 1,500 tons of chemical warfare agents — matching Syria’s declared stockpile following the Ghouta chemical attack.

Covered by Foreign Policy (‘The Sarin Sweepstakes’). Demonstrated open innovation can address the most sensitive national security problems.

Prize

$50,000

Year

2013

Outcome

Solved. The challenge “gave defense personnel the means to contain and destroy stores of poisonous chemical weapons in Syria.”