Pentagon Makes Moves to Speed Up Tech Transition
The Pentagon is taking steps to mitigate a long-standing problem with the Department of Defense's (DoD) acquisition of technologies. The ‘valley of death’ experienced by startups who received funding to develop prototypes - only to find the money dry up once delivered - is within the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering Heidi Shyu’s sights.
One reform involves the recently established Office of Strategic Capital which serves as a ‘go-between connecting venture capital funds and the startups’ while the Pentagon’s budget is hashed out. Several other reforms are being floated within Congress and the DoD to ‘level the playing field’ between technologies with established requirements and ones without. As Pentagon liaisons like the Defense Innovation Unit increase their focus on technologies like AI, avoiding the valley of death will become increasingly more important for both government and industry.