From protecting frontline soldiers to reaching the moon, Lockheed Martin has a 100-year track record of innovation. From the humble beginnings of founders Glen Martin, Allan Lockheed and Malcolm Lockheed, an unrelenting journey began to continuously push the boundaries of technologies that promise a better, brighter, and accelerated tomorrow.

Marking its 100^th anniversary, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is launching its first public innovation challenge, Innovate the Future Challenge. As a top global security and aerospace company that employs 61,000 engineers, scientists, and IT professionals, Lockheed Martin understands that great ideas can come from anywhere. Realizing the importance of early creativity, Lockheed Martin encourages and supports the next generation of inventors, students, researchers, mathematicians, engineers, and scientists to participate in the challenge. In conjunction with the public-facing challenge, an internal challenge will allow Lockheed Martin employees to contribute ideas for ways the company can create profitable growth in adjacent markets and innovate for affordability. The Innovate the Future Challenge creates a unique opportunity for Lockheed Martin to pursue affordability and collaboration through a systematic innovation program that taps both internal and external resources.

"Through this contest, we are creating an online environment that helps people with diverse backgrounds and experiences share their ideas," states Dr. Ray O. Johnson, senior vice president and chief technology officer.

Powered by Brightidea, the global forum will be open for ideas from the public starting August 6^th and ending on September 30^th, 2012. Participants will be able to submit their ideas under nine categories – health, safety, technology, environment, security, transportation, energy, education, and other. Lockheed Martin's review committee will judge and score the submitted ideas based on three main areas: impact, creativity, expression. Up to 5 ideas will be selected for cash rewards: the first place winner will receive a $25,000 award, the runner-up a $10,000 award, and three third place winners will receive $5,000 awards. That's not all. The grand prizewinner will also receive an incubation contract with Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute at the University of Maryland to help further develop the idea.

Brightidea enables the company to effectively tap inside and outside sources of expertise and create a dynamic collaborative environment where innovation can flourish. Our backend evaluation tools support advanced review and efficient processing of a high volume of ideas, creating streamlined evaluation processes through scorecarding, private evaluator collaboration rooms, and much more.

Join Lockheed Martin! Share your ideas. Encourage others. Above all else, recognize your potential to make an important contribution by submitting your ideas today!