Ignite Labs
Ignite Labs delivers Iterative, Hybrid, Human-in-the-loop machine learning and advanced horizon scanning capabilities providing warfighters enhanced situational awareness to identify future adversarial capabilities and defend against emerging threats. Ignite labs brings together three interconnected areas of expertise – Artificial Intelligence, Futures, and Publicly Available Information – working collaboratively to drive innovation and impact.
Labs Director
Dr. Jairus Grove
Dr. Jairus Grove is an expert in the futures of national security and intelligence. He is recognized for his research on transformational technologies and their profound impact on global security dynamics. As a Professor of International Relations and Director of the Hawai‘i Research Center for Futures Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Dr. Grove leads research into the intersections of artificial intelligence, automation, outer space policy, nuclear deterrence theory, and modern warfare, offering essential foresight into these rapidly evolving areas.
Before joining Ignite in 2022, Dr. Grove had already built an impressive career marked by academic achievements and leadership roles. Dr. Grove’s academic path began with a degree from the History Honors program at the University of Texas at Austin (2000), followed by a Certificate in Counter-Terrorism from the University of Oklahoma (2008). He obtained his Ph.D. in War Studies and International Relations from Johns Hopkins University (2011), where he wrote a dissertation on technological transformation in warfare focusing on revolutions from below, such as improvised explosive devices and the weaponization of commercial drone technology. He was hired by the University of Hawai’i at Manoa in 2011 and appointed director of the Futures Center in 2013. He was elected department chair in 2021 and promoted to Full Professor the following year.
In 2020, Dr. Grove founded the Academy for Hawai’i Intelligence (AHI), a federally funded program that prepares students and student veterans to enter the field of national intelligence. The program begins in high school and mentors students through the Ph.D. level to ensure that talented Hawaii residents can support the U.S. mission in the Indo-Pacific.
Awarded the prestigious Carnegie Innovation Grant in 2012 and renewed for seven years (2012 – 2018), Dr. Grove spearheaded the first comprehensive project on Quantum Computing and National Security with the University of Sydney. This landmark project resulted in a global forum on quantum technology and the creation of the documentary film Project Q: War, Peace, and Quantum Mechanics, which significantly influenced the contemporary discourse on the role of quantum technology in future warfare and peace strategies.
AI Lab
The Ignite AI Lab focuses on developing tailored AI/ML solutions designed to improve our customers’ ability to process, manage and analyze a wide range of data.
Our tools have been developed from the ground up in support of specific customer use cases with the objective of reducing the amount of time spent on tedious data management and analysis tasks. At a foundational level, the lab provides advanced data management and analysis platforms providing unparalleled visibility into disparate data sources. Built on top of our data analytics platform are cutting edge AI tools designed to greatly reduce the difficulty for users of all backgrounds to gain actionable insights from their organizations’ data.
AI Lab Director
Dr. Philip Reiner
Futures Lab
The Ignite Futures Lab takes a dynamic systems approach to solving ‘impossible’ problems facing warfighter support in the 21st century and beyond.
Our interdisciplinary team includes geopolitical futurists, intelligence analysts, systems engineers, and an AI/ML design team to ensure complex problems have tailored solutions. Rather than selling off-the-shelf products, our team assesses the singular needs of each client, surges subject matter experts to provide support, and designs a path to victory from the ground up.
The future is a multiverse, but every future has winners and losers. We must prepare now to win in all futures.
FUTURES Lab Lead
Dr. Jairus Grove
PAI Lab
The Ignite Publicly Available Information (PAI) Lab develops open-source data mining tools and techniques to provide unique insights to our clients to facilitate informed decisions.
Ignite provides preprocessing and post processing of data for ease of integration into customer products. These tools and processes help fill intelligence gaps by analyzing low TRL technologies, provide network analysis to characterize and document complex networks, and conduct horizon scans to meet customer needs.
PAI Lab Lead
Jake Mann
Ignite Labs Customers
