BLAST: A Lab-Wide Innovation Challenge and Staff Development Program

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has developed a novel innovation and staff development program for early-career staff in the form of a five-month long lab-wide innovation challenge, known internally to APL as Building Leaders, Accelerating Science and Technology (BLAST). BLAST is an annual program focused on early-career staff members, encouraging collaboration and harnessing APL’s culture of innovation to address tough challenges relevant to the Lab and its sponsors. The BLAST program goals selected as focus areas within this article are: (1) Empower & Develop Emerging APL Leaders & Innovators and (2) Foster Lab-Wide Innovation & Collaboration Mindset. Through analysis of data on relevant treatment (BLAST participants) and control (BLAST eligible) groups, the authors set out to establish whether program participation impacted leadership measures or engagement in internal innovation opportunities. The results indicate that a significantly greater proportion of BLAST participants contributed to internal grant proposals relative to both nonselected BLAST applicants and the nonapplicant control group. While involvement in the BLAST program did not significantly expedite promotions in the study timeframe, a greater proportion of BLAST participants were reclassified relative to the nonapplicant control group. In summary, we aim to demonstrate a unique innovation challenge design with a net positive impact on early-career staff development, while also addressing practical implications for managers.