News Release
CNA Holds Inaugural Idea Incubator Competition
This spring, CNA held its inaugural Idea Incubator Competition aimed at harnessing CNA employees' creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to drive innovation and collaboration across the organization. The shark tank-like competition invited CNA employees to propose innovative analytical approaches to complex national security challenges by submitting video pitches to a panel of judges. After the judges, among whom were members of the CNA Board of Trustees, selected the top three finalists, all CNA employees then had the chance to vote for the final winner.
"CNA's culture is rooted in leveraging innovative analytical approaches to successfully carry out our mission to help the government solve its toughest national and homeland security problems," said Halleh Seyson, vice president of Enterprise Systems and Data Analysis at CNA. "By adding in some friendly competition, we hope to drive innovation even further, while also rewarding employees for their most creative ideas. Every idea submitted to the CNA Idea Incubator Competition showcased creativity, bold thinking, and the potential for real impact."
The 2025 Idea Incubator Competition winners, Christopher Cairns and Paul Orner, were awarded funds to conduct their proposed project using artificial intelligence to better understand the national security implications of technology competition with China.
"This cross-divisional effort will develop frameworks to leverage large language models and network analysis to explore datasets and collections of documents that are too large for a conventional team of human analysts to process," said Orner.
"These tools will supplement traditional analysis and assist CNA analysts in navigating the overwhelming amount of understanding Chinese patents related to national security," said Cairns.
The other two finalist teams were titled Cyber Hazard Incident Response and Prevention (CHIRP) Game and Humor Training for Public Safety Professionals. Additional submissions included: Building Teams of AI Agents (Multi-Agent Systems); Hidden Markov Model Innovation Incubator; Mission Ready, Life Secured: Lethal Means Safety for Those Who Serve; Unlocking Smart City Potential: CNA's Path; and ResponseAssist.
At the end of the project, the winning team will demonstrate a working prototype that brings their idea to life and illustrates the potential of their solution.
Over the past 80 years, CNA has invested over $25 million in more than 300 groundbreaking research projects. The CNA Innovation Incubator (CNAi2) houses innovative public-facing work and holds this competition to harness its analysts' creativity and entrepreneurial spirit.
CNA is a not-for-profit analytical organization dedicated to the safety and security of the nation. With nearly 700 scientists, analysts, and professional staff across the world, CNA's mission is to provide data-driven, innovative solutions to our nation's toughest problems. It operates the Center for Naval Analyses—a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC)—as well as the Institute for Public Research. The Center for Naval Analyses provides objective analytics to inform the decision-making of military leaders and ultimately improve the lethality and effectiveness of the Joint Force. The Institute for Public Research leverages data analytics and sophisticated methods to support federal, state, and local government officials as they work to protect the homeland, the American people, and industry.
Note to writers and editors: CNA is not an acronym and is correctly referenced as “CNA, an independent not-for-profit analytical organization.” Please do not refer to us as a think tank.