It’s always inspiring to hear from a true innovator, but how about three? In this episode, Kevin L. Jackson sits down with three technology leaders re-imagining the citizen experience, one application at a time. Tune in to hear from Dr. Camille Jones, Eric Adolphe and Josh Pendrick as they discuss a new government app called EMMA (Electronic Mobile Medical Application), geospatial technology, robotic process automation (RPA), what this all means for the 2030 U.S. Census and more.

Intro/Outro (00:01):

Welcome to digital transformers. The show that connects you with what you need to build, manage, and operate your digital supply chain. Join your host in a timely discussion on new and future business models. With industry leading executives, the show will reveal global customer expectations, real world deployment challenges, and the value of advanced business technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotic process engineering. And now we bring you digital transformers.

Kevin L. Jackson (00:35):

Hello everyone. This is Kevin L. Jackson, and welcome to digital transformers. This show is designed to educate and inform you our audience on the immediate value of digitalization. We do that by highlighting companies and executives that are leading global industries into the digital future. Today, we’re talking about the industry known as government, and it’s very special because we’re highlighting how the us federal government specifically the us census bureau is transforming how itself to prepare for the 2030 census. You think that’s way, way off in the future, but it’s important to prepare for such a major event. So with me today is Dr. Camille Jones, the assistant division, chief of the administrative and customer service forward edge AI CEO, Eric Adel, the lead contractor for the project and ripples CEO, Josh prick, a major contributor to the UC I D technology effort. Welcome y’all. So Dr. Jones, could you please introduce yourself the bureau and the Emma project that you are skillfully leading?

Dr. Camille Jones (02:01):

<laugh> I dunno about skillfully leading, but <laugh> I show up in asked to I’m Dr. Camille Adams Jones. And I have been, um, the, I have the pleasure of being the assistant division chief over a dynamic avenue of government, where we are leading dynamic, um, doers in innovation transformation as well as execution. Um, the Emma project is our electronic mobile medical application and it came about from an unfortunate incident. I had, I got hit by a car.

Kevin L. Jackson (02:31):

Wow.

Dr. Camille Jones (02:32):

I was trying to be, yep. I was trying to be a good wife and I was out on the roads in Washington, DC, as in new Yorker, I know better to be out on the roads in Washington, DC when snow first hits the ground, those DMV drivers are gonna get you one way or another. And I got caught and I had a car

Dr. Camille Jones (02:50):

<laugh> and, um, and I called my insurance company state farm and they said, well, do you have your cell phone on you? And I said, I did. And they, I took six pictures of everything that happened. I sent it to them. And next thing you know, I had a, a state farm claim number. Everything had worked out, they had had an appointment for my car to be taken in. It told me where the nearest ERs were to take care of me. I even sent me, um, examples of how I can do physical therapy if needed and what all my policy limits were. And I thought being over the things I’m over at the us census bureau, in my role, I oversee safety, occupational health, our employee assistance program, as well as our personal property and tos claim and workers compensation program. But I felt like if state farm could come up with an application to do all of this, right, why can’t we as government?

Dr. Camille Jones (03:37):

And so I decided to make friends, I attended about seven different industry days. I stopped talking to people who just hung out at census and I started hanging out at other agencies. I started hanging out at other forums. I started taking advantage of this virtual environment. We’re in attending different conferences via like some of our social media platforms on LinkedIn. And I met about 16 different companies that understood what I was looking for. But then I only met one <laugh> that already had a phase one and two process taking place through our friends over at the national science foundation. And I said, they’ve got what we need. If we can transform the work that we do right now, that takes us up to seven days to complete, just to initiate mm-hmm <affirmative>. And we can do that in under three minutes. Let’s go, let’s do a government. We speak about being transformative leaders. We speak about being innovators. Let’s go, let’s put our money where our mouth is and let’s see if we can do it. So I made some friends, I made some friends and I have to say, I think I made the best of friends. One of them being Mr. Eric, adult <laugh>. And I have to say, he’s not too bad with picking out fireplace backgrounds either. So

Kevin L. Jackson (04:51):

<laugh> no, I mean, there’s a lot to unpack there. Uh, Dr. Jones, because you talked a bit about, uh, partnerships. Okay. Not just partnerships with industry and learning from industry, but within the federal government itself. And you actually work with the NA national, um, science of, of foundation to identify ways that you can improve your own bureau. Is that done? Often?

Dr. Camille Jones (05:23):

I have to say, it’s not sometimes we, I don’t know. We work within silos. We work in home in the house, or we work within our direct bureaucracy of whatever governing agency is over us. And sometimes you’ve gotta make friends elsewhere. I tell people all the time, like even with what I do get some diverse friends. If you are a dancer, find an engineer. If you’re a doctor, hang out with an AC, when an act, what an accountant find somebody whose thought processes are different than yours. And I have to say, I would not have been able to accomplish what we were able to accomplish. If it hadn’t have been for my friends, from other agencies. When I say friends, just colleagues, people, I didn’t know, but I just connected with cuz they were at the same industry days, they were wearing a government badge.

Dr. Camille Jones (06:04):

They had a gov.gov email address. And so it was like safe for them to talk to. And there was some good people over at the small business administration that introduced me, not just to how I could get this done, how we could partner with other agencies, but they let us know what vehicles were out there to get it done. The acquisitions process in government is one that can hinder a lot of us. And if you find ways to just make connections, partner with individuals who know how to there’s so many people in government that have astonished astonishing talent, but they all save it in house. We’re all gate keeping just wear our own. And if we can say, yeah, you can come over. Yeah. You wanna know what we do here? Take a look at what we’ve got going on. Show off a little bit, tell people what you’re doing.

Dr. Camille Jones (06:49):

You never know how we can help a colleague across agencies. We’ve gotta learn to drill down these silos and make some partnerships and grab some friends because it’s good stewards of the fiscal federal dollar. It’s so important. When we think about innovative change coming forward, we’re no longer gonna be able to have those systems that are really just Excel spreadsheets or those paper based systems where two people have keys to the file cabinet. Like we’re living in a digital area. So why not get on board? Why not be brave and get out there and figure out how we can do better? How can we be be more efficient in what we do? How can we be better to our end users? How can we truly take advantage of this internal and external customer experience we wanna elevate? And I said, I said one I’m for one I’m ready. Let’s go. Let’s go.

Kevin L. Jackson (07:36):

Ooh. Wow. This is study. That is awesome. I, I, I really like your, yeah, I really like your broad vision. So, so Eric, uh, please don’t fall off that pedestal to Dr. Jones. Yes. Put you on <laugh> so Kevin. Yes.

Eric Adolphe (07:54):

So Kevin, I will never, ever follow Dr. Jones in a podcast ever again. <laugh>

Kevin L. Jackson (08:02):

It’s like

Eric Adolphe (08:04):

Michael Jackson said, you know, get the mic and keep the mic and never give it away. <laugh>

Kevin L. Jackson (08:09):

I mean,

Eric Adolphe (08:10):

I mean, she, she summed it all up. I mean, it was brilliant. There’s not much more for me to add to that. I wanna say you could see the passion there and you know, the thing about Ford edge, you know, we, we focus on three things. We focus on national security, public safety and addressing, you know, complex social problems like bias and those kinds of things. Right. Mm-hmm <affirmative> so we, we tend to want to, uh, take on these projects that are, you know, that ha have those themes, but, but also the, the sponsors, the partners in government are passionate. You can see the passion coming from Dr. Jones. And I just love it. Yes. I mean, this is just absolutely great. And you could tell, so Dr. Jones, the audience may not know this was the winner of the fed 100 award, which is a prestigious award that’s that’s given to government executives who are involved in transforming the way government does business. And, uh, so she’s, so we’re in the presence, we’re their presence of Royal. I so appreciate that.

Kevin L. Jackson (09:14):

I mean, one of the things, um, I mean, tell us a little bit about you also as well as your company, but one thing that Dr. Jones sort of mentioned was the small business administration. And, and I understand that, uh, basically a lot of this happened through what’s known as an S B I R. Um, so, so tell me about yourself and about for edge, but why is, why was the S B I R such an important tool when it comes to digital transformation?

Eric Adolphe (09:53):

Yeah. So S SP programs, uh, small business innovation research program is, is a passion of mine as well. I’ve been doing SPR for 33 years. That’s all my, most of my adult life program actually is 40 years old. This year. This is celebrating its 40th year anniversary, and it’s, what’s called America’s seed capital. Um, this program was founded, um, again, 40 years ago to address concerns that, um, that they had at national science foundation about the us eroding dominance in innovation. And so what essentially what happens is it’s in three phases, phase one is basic research or transitional research phase two is you’re taking that sort of, uh, research to that proof of concept. And you’re developing something that, uh, has been de-risked and ready for market phase three is where the big payoff is phase three. You have the ability to get so source contracts and in the expedited fashion, in the federal government, for anything that’s related to the technology that arises, extends or concludes the work you did in phase one or two, and it could be research, it could be services, or it could be products or any combination, uh, of the three.

Eric Adolphe (11:12):

So Ford edge participates in the program. We have SBIRs with the national science foundation, um, with census now, and also with the us air force, we’ve got others that, uh, are sort of in the pipeline, but this program, um, most people will not know this. This will be a surprise through your audience, but companies like Qualcomm Genentech 23 and me, um, LASIK iRobot. These are American brands, powerful brands that came to the program, got their start from this program. And so it’s not a government program. So we were thinking it is a government program, but it’s not a government government program. It’s, it’s a seed program to create the next generation entrepreneurs. Now, one problem with the program is that less than 0.6, that’s not even 1%, 0.6% of S B I R dollars have gone through African American entrepreneurs. That is a tragedy, and that’s something we’re trying to address.

Eric Adolphe (12:14):

So I’ve spent the last few years trying to focus on goal number three of the program, which is the foster encourage women and minorities in innovation and entrepreneurship. The, the program in 40 years has never achieved that goal, right? So we gotta do better. But as you can see from the list of companies, I, I mentioned this program is central to our economy. You have a number of companies. Google’s another one, you have a number of companies that would not be here today, had it not been for the program. So you ask me a little about our company, you know, we’re committed to making sure that the bureau census is successful with the Emma project, which is a phase three S B I R. We’ve got a lot, you know, writing on this. You know, we wanna showcase this as a success, um, for the bureau census, this success for Dr.

Eric Adolphe (13:06):

Jones and her team and the success for the taxpayers. Right. Um, so, uh, just a couple more thick points about Ford edge, uh, beyond what we’re doing with Emma. Um, we’re also doing work with the national security agency we’re deploying we’re, um, doing some research within SA developing a very low cost. We’re talking under couple hundred dollars and very low cost quantum resistant encryption device. That’ll secure edge devices. Like I O T SCADA, um, you name it, laptops, phones, et cetera, and keep it from, you know, from quantum level, uh, cyber attacks. So we’re doing some pretty cutting edge things, but again, the point is three things we’re focusing on public safety, national security, and addressing, you know, uh, these complex social challenges that, that, uh, that our country faces.

Kevin L. Jackson (14:00):

Wow. Well, thank you very much, but I would be remissed if I didn’t tell the audience that you are a federal 100 award winner yourself. Congratulations.

Eric Adolphe (14:12):

<laugh>. Yeah, I think they were just giving away when I got it. <laugh> when Dr. Jones got it. That broke the mold. I think they’re not giving them anymore. <laugh> one point that I want to add, but thank you for that. Um, I am a federal 100 award winner, but I gotta tell you that was a, a highlight in the career. You got these milestones in the career, but I do wanna mention a couple of things. I’m the, um, national capital business ethics award winner and the fourth runner rep for the American business ethics award. Those are, I think I cherish those also the, thank you also the, uh, first black S B I R Titz award winner, which is, you know, so those are sort of the, the crowning achievements. And then last year, last one, and this is where I won’t say anymore. I won the, um, service to the citizens award. So all of those is sort of like my body of work, right. Um, service to the citizens, you know, addressing these social issues, innovation, that’s what kind of, what I’m all about.

Kevin L. Jackson (15:15):

No. Well, thank you very much, you know, they always say, you know, thank you for your service to, uh, the military and to, um, first responders. But it’s also important to note that the, the nation has to thank, uh, commercial business for their service to the nation. So, uh, so, so thank you for all of that. So, so Josh, Emma apparently uses a lot of different leading edge technologies and including robotic process engineering and, and natural language processing. But, but your team is focused on this embedded service called universal communications identifier, or U C I E D could, as you introduce yourself and your company ripples, could, could you tell us what the UCI D is?

Josh Pendrick (16:09):

Yeah. Thank you for Kevin and, um, and happy to be glad to be back on the show. But before, before I get into that, I gotta, I gotta keep both Eric and Dr. Jones on their pedestals. Um, <laugh>

Kevin L. Jackson (16:21):

So,

Josh Pendrick (16:21):

So Eric, Eric, no, as he described, I mean, his, one of the things that’s super impressive and, and, you know, at least I’ve been impressed with, with Eric and his team is they truly are ninjas at the S B I R game. And, and just doing business, uh, you know, in the, with the public sector, uh, I’ve learned a ton from them. You know, it’s a great team and I’m really excited to be, to be partnered with him and his team and Dr. Jones. I just wanna, I wanna congratulate you because you truly, truly for truly being an innovator within the bureau, because you did a few things, when you, you told us that story about the accident. I mean, number one, you were curious and asked questions, like, why couldn’t this be different? Right. Which it always starts with that. Right? Some people don’t even get that far.

Josh Pendrick (17:04):

They don’t question status quo, then you took action, which is, again, even the people that question, you know, don’t take action. And then lastly, you, you went and got out of your circle kind of, of influence and, and information to make as you put new friends, uh, which is how, you know, innovation happens. It’s, it’s up leveling the level of thinking. So I I’m really encouraged and just wanna congratulate you for that for, you know, that that’s something that’s, you know, needed in, in areas where there is so much bureaucracy, right. And silos you put. So I just wanted to continue to build you guys up on your pedestals there <laugh>. But so I getting back to, to ripples and your question, Kevin I’m, Josh pricks, CEO of ripples ripples is a S spatial computing company that that’s developed a robust patented geospatial platform that, that integrates the digital and physical world in some really unique ways.

Josh Pendrick (17:59):

Uh, most notably is the system enables, um, the ability for digital files to exist at precise coordinates of, of real world, you know, physical space and these that these files can be interacted with via connected devices, such as smartphones or, or other types of IOT devices. And the way we do that is in a variety of ways, we use a proprietary wireless communication network, as well as which is also patented and other third party positioning systems that all come together to create this single platform, which, which we call inner life, which is essentially a spatial operating system. And it’s that internet of space concept that we talked a little bit about last time I was, I was on the show. And so there’s a lot of use cases for this, for this in incredible technology. Uh, and it’s being used to serve multiple markets and, and a variety of solutions.

Josh Pendrick (18:53):

One of which one of those is, is the, the concepts that we’re doing with the U C I D, which we developed with our partners at TNS. And, uh, now with the U C I D uh, now what the UC idea is, and again, as you put Kevin, it is the univer. What that stands for is the universal communication identifier. And what the UC idea is, is, is the first device level software service to monitor individual device activity for vulnerabilities at that, at that device level, um, how it works is we take the unique network ID, the unique idea of a network device, uh, such as an me, I D number, which is, which is the mobile stands for mobile equipment ID, uh, that every, uh, smartphone and telecommunication device has. It’s a unique serial number, uh, that assigns each devices. And we take these, these unique network IDs min it on a blockchain and integrate that with our, our geospatial platform.

Josh Pendrick (19:55):

I, you know, I mentioned earlier and, and also store metadata about the software and hardware below materials. And so this U C I D was designed to increase the security and transparency for devices of all kinds. Uh, the core features, uh, for the solution include automating the acquisition of the device hardware and software data, the creation and recording of the U C I D on a blockchain ledger. And we’re using a permission based, uh, ledger, uh, the regulatory intelligence and monitoring capabilities that it offers for regulatory bodies, validation of device transactions. And then also the ability to do automation of processes based on, on metadata and triggers. So U C IDs have all the benefits of distributed ledger technology. In addition to the capabil bene you know, the added benefits that come from, you know, from the, the patented interlife platform. And that includes the, you know, all this stuff, the imutability of recording on a blockchain, complete audit history, including spatial audit history, providing asset tracking, monitoring anomaly detection.

Josh Pendrick (20:59):

And along with that ability to, to implement autonomous rules or actions in response to specific triggers. So now as applied to physical devices, such as smartphones, or, or network equipment, a primary goal of the U C I D is to, to flag and, and remediate the, the hardware software vulnerabilities, as well as to gain insight in different patterns or risks, including location based patterns or risk. And the U C I D becomes an important component for any device management solution, especially being able to help mitigate risks in, in large networks, such as telecommunication networks, supply chain, networks, IOT networks, and really all these, you know, these, these massive, um, networks with large connected devices. And in lastly, in addition to the digital, the digital assets, I’m sorry, the physical assets, the, we, the UCD provides similar capabilities to manage these risks involving digital assets, digital assets, meaning, you know, uh, NFTs cryptocurrencies spec, specifically central bank, digital currencies, uh, securities, uh, and, and digital wallets. So really it’s a, it’s a pretty unique, uh, product that we came up with there.

Kevin L. Jackson (22:11):

Wow. So it it’s sounds like it’s really kind of a, a broad service. It’s not like a niche. It’s something that can support not only physical devices, but, but virtual assets of physical assets and virtual assets as well. Uh, this is, this is, this is amazing. So Dr. Jones, we, we talk about digital transformation and you really do exhibit a lot of the key traits required for digital transformation like that curiosity, um, and, uh, that drives you to not accepting the status quo and, and sort of getting outside of your comfort zone and your, your willingness to share information. And as you said, you are part of the commerce department as a organization. Uh, that’s really focused on data. Why is Emma so important, uh, to your broader organization? Because, uh, a medical, uh, mobile medical paperwork application seems like it’s pretty narrow scope. So, you know, how is that transformational?

Dr. Camille Jones (23:28):

It’s called the beginning. Kevin it’s the beginning. We gotta, it works. We gotta prove that everything Eric has promised is truly capable and doable. And then it’s just the beginning. It’s showing that we can bring AI technology, blockchain, understanding into the folds of federal government exercises and efforts. And we can show if it can do this for my little small pocket of the world, mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, at the us census bureau, then what can it do for the department of energy? What can it do for our friends over at justice tracking inmates? What can it do for our folks over at department of Navy working on transformative federal fi finance systems and make sure the war fighter never has to worry about whether or not their check is gonna end up in their checking account. On the day of payroll, there is so many things to come with AI, and I’m considering us just the beginning.

Dr. Camille Jones (24:18):

And I’m hoping that all of my peers across government are looking and watching the same way I’m looking and watching them. And they’re trying to figure out how can this work for us? How can this work for us? What innovative needs do we have? We all have something that we have at work. That’s just like a bug Abu to us, like, the 17 steps in this is there way to retire some of these legacy systems that were built basically prior to us being born or prior to Eric starting his 33 year journey in S B I R, is there any way to retire some of these systems and really embrace what industry is doing right now? What may be going over on, in different, um, industry structures, what’s going on in infrastructure, what’s going on in agriculture, what’s going on. Even across the pond in international waters, what innovative things are coming up that our talent can latch onto?

Dr. Camille Jones (25:12):

Cuz nobody can tell me that we don’t have the talent on wherewithal in federal practice, but do we have a springboard that allows that talent to jump into think tanks and say, I’ve got an idea, or this is a problem. What solutions out there exists? So us to, for us to make it better, that whole works smarter. Not necessarily harder. How do we bring efficiency in this? And then how many of us are comfortable standing on the other end, becoming the customer, becoming the consumer, becoming that American, that American citizen that’s out there counting on statistical data that comes from the census bureau. So while I’m waiting on this data to come, has Yahoo, given it to me, has Gardner given it to me already have Twitter already letting me know what’s gonna happen? Yeah. Like we don’t wanna be. I tell people all the time that we don’t ever wanna be in a situation where we become blockbuster, no offense to blockbuster, but they were the coolest kids on a Friday night.

Dr. Camille Jones (26:12):

You could ever wanna hang out with that. Decon rewind was the place to be everybody overpaid for Twizzlers and popcorn that you could have easily gotten was $6 less. Right? Then this skinny kid, nobody really knew didn’t understand who he was, came into town, walked up to blockbuster and say, Hey, I got an idea. You know, I think if we hung out together, maybe we could do something great. And blockbuster said, what’s your name? And they were like, Hey, um, my name is Netflix. And they were like, nah, we’re cool. We don’t need that. Nobody’s ever gonna give up on blockbuster. We’re always gonna be the greatest things

Dr. Camille Jones (26:50):

Ever. And then Netflix said, hold my idea. Hold my, and now when is the last time you guys walked into a blockbuster? I tell everybody you don’t wanna be left behind right now, a newspaper. By the time it hits print gets out to your yard. It’s already stale to our hotel industry. You better be watching your back with Airbnb, to our car dealerships, car Vanna, zoom, they’re coming government. What makes you think that won’t happen to us? Yes. This tructure will always be there. But if we really wanna be where people find the, um, data that they need be that trusted agent of stewards of information technology, we’ve got some work to do. We’ve got some work to do, and everybody thinks it comes from the top of administration, but it actually comes from those of us in seats with boots on the ground in seats of influence that can make things happen.

Dr. Camille Jones (27:42):

They’re counting on us to bring innovation and ideas. And instead we are recycling the old, but we can do better. We can spit sign what we’ve got. Of course nobody’s saying let’s throw away our archives of historical data, cuz we’ve got some great stuff that we’ve done, but how do we elevate it? How do we elevate it? How do we challenge ourselves to be true champions of tomorrow? What are they gonna say about us today in the history books tomorrow, aside from this whole group out air frying bake, air frying carrots and calling it bacon, we can be innovative. Okay. We can do some things beyond the scope of measure and I’m a firm believer that that exists and lives in federal practice.

Kevin L. Jackson (28:28):

Wow. I mean the more I hear you guys talk about this of medical mobile application as a description just seems so, uh, underwhelming for, for what it can do. So, so Eric, can you maybe, uh, lift the hood on this, this vehicle and, and tell us a little more about some of the technologies that are being used. It’s not just a digital way to shuffle paper. I mean, you using things like process engineering and, and natural language processing. Can, can you, uh, you know, what are you really doing in this hat?

Eric Adolphe (29:08):

Yeah, I mean, like I said, man, following Dr. Jones is always, uh, John <laugh>, but uh, yeah, I mean, so when it comes right down to it, what we’re talking about is enhancing or transforming the customer experience or the citizen experience. Right. Cause that’s really what, what tax payers only care about if I, this is not federal, but if I go to the DMV, what’s the experience. If I need to get a, you know, a, a, a fishing license, what’s the experience, what’s the experience am I getting from senses? You know, that’s what the citizens really care about. And that’s where unfortunately, the government gets, uh, gets a lot of knack, but there’s a lot of good stuff going on in the government innovation mm-hmm <affirmative>. So within Emma, you know, Emma has a lot of, uh, what we call emerging technologies that are, that are, uh, being brought to bear.

Eric Adolphe (29:57):

We’ve talked about blockchain. So we’re using the smart contract feature of blockchain to, to manage who gets to see the data and to, to right, to bring in new data governance philosophy into the agency. We’re integrating, um, robotic process automation. And what is, why is that? It’s just not a buzzword. The RPA is being used to automate away these repetitive tasks that they have to do over and over and over again, so that they can sort of upscale and focus on higher level customer facing kinds of activities instead of this low end administrative stuff that doesn’t have a lot of value, right? Mm-hmm, <affirmative> important, but doesn’t have a lot of value we’re bringing to, to bear artificial intelligence and computer vision. You may be aware if they get into an accident like Dr. Jones was saying she got into an accident that, that inspired this, the way that it worked today is they basically take a pen and paper.

Eric Adolphe (30:56):

They’re trying to sketch out the accident scene. They go back home, you know, memories, fade, and they’re trying to sketch it out and then they’ve gotta file it. And there might be a lawsuit. So who wants to go to court with a hand drawn paper that was done two days after the actual accident as a lawyer you’ll know, that is not a winning hand, right? Yeah. Yeah. So the idea is, if you could just take a photo out on the scene, right. And you have some magic under the hood that analyzes, it, fills out the forms and does, does some things. And, and then you have the blockchain, you preserve evidence then wow. You’ve got something here. That’s, uh, that’s pretty interesting. Right? And then we’ve got other technologies like chatbots. We were stricken. And by the way, across the board, everybody at census we’ve been working with are deeply passionate about this project and deeply passionate about the work that they’re doing.

Eric Adolphe (31:50):

You’ve got people, the, the census itself is written into the us constitution, right? So it’s not something that somebody just said, Hey, let’s do a census. It’s written into our constitution. And so this is as American as it, as it comes, when they are out knocking on your door, they’re your neighbors, they’re your friends, they’re your families. They’re knocking adore to take the census. The data underpins every aspect of our economy for a fact, right? So everybody we talk to on this project, we’re doing business process. Re-engineering we look, cuz you don’t wanna automate, you know, uh, a broken process, right? You wanna take the process, you wanna improve it and then automate, right? So literally everybody we’ve been dealing with at census are passionate about this and making it better and being a model that other government agencies can follow. So let’s talk about that. Who else? Right. So this is not some little tiny thing, right? So first of all, the, the 2030 census, uh, then the 20, 20 census, the, the bureau, uh, deployed over 500,000 employees, right in the field to knock on your doors. That’s gonna be the largest blockchain implementation project in the federal government period.

Kevin L. Jackson (33:09):

Wow.

Eric Adolphe (33:09):

Largest enterprise blockchain period. Right? So that’s number one beyond the census. Most people don’t know this, but every year the census bureau is deploying folks into the field to, to, to do counts and enumeration. And that kind of thing. It’s not just every 10 years, it’s every year. So this is not a 10 year problem. And it goes away it’s every year. And then you think about it, you say, okay, well, who else can use this? Well, the us postal service, they go out, they, they they’re knocking on your doors. They’re delivering your mails. They get bitten by dogs. They get into accidents. It’s the same thing. And you could keep extrapolating. You look at like oil rigs, you got people in the oil, remote oil rigs, they get injured, you know, what are they doing? You know? So this is not just a, a, a nice little project, one off project in a corner somewhere. This project not only is gonna solve a major problem in the federal government, but it’s gonna be a model for implementation of these technologies throughout the federal government. That is why we have to succeed.

Kevin L. Jackson (34:15):

Wow. That that’s impressive. And something else you brought up, this is not something that we’re not gonna see until 2030. This is actually something we’re we’re gonna see in the near term, right?

Eric Adolphe (34:27):

Yeah. Hopefully next year.

Kevin L. Jackson (34:28):

Oh, wow. <laugh> so Josh, I’m back to, you were talking a bit about, uh, geospatial technology and well, I, you known for that about your patent geospatial technology. Can you maybe tell me a little more a about, about that because sure. You, you guys work in, uh, the metaverse right. You work in, in web 3.0 and, and geospatial and the metaverse, they don’t like go together. Right. Aren’t they different things.

Josh Pendrick (35:09):

Well, yeah. So, uh, appreciate that, Kevin. So, so look, the, so yeah, the, this, the spatial, the geospatial platform we were referencing earlier, we, we call that inner life. Uh that’s that spatial operating system that, um, I was referring to. And so is it pertains to the S what I would, I would think of, think of ripples as sort of the, the bridge between the physical world and the meta and the virtual world. And metaverse sure we actually give the metaverse and virtual environment’s real world context. So we, you know, that’s, that’s really where ripple sits at that intersection of the digital and physical. And, um, so, so basically what interlife does is, as I mentioned a little bit earlier, it uses various positioning systems to, to map aerospace and map kind of physical environment, this addressing system, if you will, of, of airspace and then enables the ability to store digital files. And at, at these locations, mm-hmm, <affirmative> at these precise three dimensional real world coordinates, and those digital files could be actual files and assets, or they could be commands and instructions. So, so think of, uh, it could be digital media, like messages or augment reality content that, that, uh, you would, you would access with your phone.

Kevin L. Jackson (36:25):

So I guess like those pictures that Eric was talking about, you could actually put geospatial data with those pictures. So you can prove that the accident worked, that that happened at that particular location.

Josh Pendrick (36:39):

Yeah, certainly that that’s definitely use case. And, and even in addition to the phone devices, you know, this could be, it could be, as I mentioned earlier, any type of IOT or connected device, so that, you know, that could look like a, a, uh, a haptic device, you know, a wearable that provides haptic feedback as sort of a, a way of like a way finding solution for, for helping a blind person navigate. Let’s just say in a, in a particular environment as an example. Okay. So now the system was built natively to incorporate blockchain and, and facilitate supply chain management. So, you know, getting back to kind U C I D U C I D. And, um, and Emma, when TNS first presented its idea for what, what, you know, later became known as the U C I D concept to us, it was a, it was a natural fit to use the interlight platform, given where it was already natively kind of geared up to do, right.

Josh Pendrick (37:29):

For a lot of this stuff, since our structured, to be able to do this stuff. And, you know, one of the benefits of U C I D is that ability to signal when a device is, is getting hacked or cloned, um, right. Which, which, you know, for a bad actor is getting access to, to, to a clone device, could get access to very sensitive data or even entire networks. Right. So, um, I mean, in the Emma Case, this, this helps ensure, you know, the integrity of, of the critical census data that is, that is captured on Emma devices. Uh, but really just in a broader perspective, I mean, the, you know, they use C I D addresses, you know, very, very big problem and, you know, edge devices are now, let’s just call it a favorite entry point to all kinds of bad actors. Right. And, um, and with 70 billion, uh, devices by 2025, and I, I believe it’s what 6 billion or something smartphones in circulation. That’s a, there’s a huge number of, of possible attack vectors, right. For, for these actors and, and the cybersecurity problem is becoming a crisis. And so the U C I D can help address this, this crisis. And as you know, the Emma project clearly demonstrates, and it really just kind of underscores everything. Eric was just saying of like this isn’t, you know, this isn’t a project in some little corner like this, this has major impact across the board. Um, so,

Kevin L. Jackson (38:49):

Oh, wow. Yeah. So, well, thank you. Thank you all for this en enlightening discussion. Unfortunately, we are coming to the end of our Tom. So, uh, Dr. Jones, I mean, could you end this by maybe, you know, telling us what’s in your crystal ball for, for, for Emma. And, and then if someone wanted to learn more about Emma or maybe even partner with your bureau, uh, on an Emma related project, you know, what could they do, or how could they reach out to you?

Dr. Camille Jones (39:24):

Come see me, I’m at the us census bureau, a Suitland Suitland, federal service and Suitland, Maryland. Um, I’m actually, you know, a phone call or email away, and I’m a sharer, I’m a giver. I work hard not to be a gatekeeper. I think it’s important that we are all builders and to build, sometimes we need to borrow, and I am a constant giver. Like I said, I’m a federal steward. So it’s not like it’s mine to take home and cherish and profit off of. So it’s for those that want it and need it. Um, it’s my hope that individuals see what we do with Emma. And as you said, this is just like the small token of what this technology and capability can do. And if we can do this for just one pocket of capability of what we do a little, a little drop in the pond of what’s capable with this technology, imagine what you could do over at your agency. Imagine what you could do at national health Institute national, what you can do over at department of education. Imagine what you can do over at FEMA. Imagine what you can do. <laugh>, you know, as I think about what we just went through here in the DMV, storms are down trees on houses, infrastructure, and everything’s torn apart. Like what if they had Emma <laugh>

Kevin L. Jackson (40:38):

Right, right.

Dr. Camille Jones (40:40):

Filter to get these policies claims, get these trees out of the way we got things that we can get done. And so I, I like to say, you know, I feel, I, I feel okay with being that new cool kid at the table. I’m okay. If I, if we become that Netflix, um, we will make room for everybody who wants to join and inquire. Um, I’m on LinkedIn as, um, Dr. Camille Adams Jones. I’m on Twitter at miss doc Jones. And so as you need anything, um, Mrs. Dr. Jones does MRSS D O C J O N E S on Twitter, as you need something, come for me, I’m a worklife balance, mental health advocate in addition to all of this. So wellness is Maja <laugh>, um, technology and innovation is my calling. So I thank you for having me, Kevin, I thank Josh and Eric for just letting me be amongst your company. I tell everybody I am the most underrated UN underperforming aspect of my circle, because I wanna aspire to those that I surround myself with. And so I always make sure that I’m the one that’s playing catch up and this group I I’m just honored to be about. And Kevin, thank you so much for this platform and this opportunity today, Eric, we’ve got work to do, so say goodbye. Let’s go.

Kevin L. Jackson (41:57):

<laugh>. Wow. Talk about a call to action. <laugh>. Thank you. Thank you. So, um, so Josh, you know, I’m, I’m thinking about this, maybe you should spell ripple so people can find you on, on the internet and, and let the audience know how they can reach out to you to find out more about like your, uh, what’s called light clay app and U C I D.

Josh Pendrick (42:22):

Yeah, sure. So the ripples is spelled uniquely, uh, it’s R Y P P L Z Z. Uh, and you could go to, you know, find us at our, our website, ripples.com and you know, all the, all the social channels, uh, you know, that ripples on and to specifically learn more about the U C I D uh, we have the, a website dedicated to that product that is UC identifier.io. And yeah, you, the, the Kevin, you mentioned the light play app, which we didn’t get a chance to talk about, but that is a, that’s a really great product that, that ripples has. That’s a geo messenger app that allows you to drop location based messages anywhere you, you want in the world and connect with people around the world in different, entirely different ways. And you can, you can find out about that at light play do app.

Kevin L. Jackson (43:10):

Wow. Well, thank you very much. Hold

Dr. Camille Jones (43:12):

On, Josh, wait a minute. Tell me about that one again. We made online about that one

Josh Pendrick (43:17):

Picture, picture Pokemon go meets, uh, a social network meets metaverse that’s it? Yeah, you definitely check it out. Come, come, go join and follow me, Josh, Josh prick on there and we’ll, uh, we’ll hang out.

Dr. Camille Jones (43:31):

Love it. Love it. Love it,

Kevin L. Jackson (43:32):

Josh. That’s awesome. So, so, uh, Eric, uh, have we missed anything about, about you and, and port AI and, and how can the audience reach out with you?

Josh Pendrick (43:46):

You can’t

Eric Adolphe (43:47):

Thanks for

Kevin L. Jackson (43:49):

<laugh>

Eric Adolphe (43:49):

Thanks for not making me follow Dr. Jones this time. <laugh> um, so yeah, so this, this has been great, always fun to do this podcast. Um, uh, Josh, um, I just noticed your wall there. You got the Boston BS looks like too bad, you know, I grew up in New York too bad for you. <laugh> that’s one of put it out there.

Josh Pendrick (44:13):

I had seen,

Dr. Camille Jones (44:16):

If I had seen that in the beginning, I would not have gone for, sorry, Josh.

Eric Adolphe (44:22):

Just put it out there, man. So on

Kevin L. Jackson (44:24):

The same team here

Eric Adolphe (44:26):

<laugh> so, uh, yeah, so, uh, to reach me, LinkedIn is always good. Uh, but the, uh, the website for the Emma project is Emma app.ai. That’s E M M a a P p.ai. That’s the landing page for the Emma app. So feel free to reach out and there’s plenty of information there. Thank you.

Kevin L. Jackson (44:49):

Well, great. Right. So thank you all the audience for spending your precious time with us. So in closing, I would like to also invite everyone to check out the wide variety of industry thought leadership@supplychainnow.com and you can find digital transformers and supply chain down wherever you get your podcast. So be sure to subscribe. So on behalf of Dr. Jones, Josh and Eric, this is Kevin L. Jackson wishing all of our listeners, a bright and transformational future. We’ll see you next time on digital transformer.

Intro/Outro (45:33):

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