I’m just back from a week in Austin, where I had the opportunity to demonstrate our technology for a number of key decision-makers at This Is Our House, a joint effort from the Army and Navy to bring together founders and funders from across the defense innovation ecosystem.
SXSW has always had more of a commercial-innovation tone, but the defense industry has officially taken over – and the tone at This Is Our House was clear: The DoD recognizes the significant opportunity for more industrial base innovation as it confronts new challenges, like sustainability and drone warfare.
A few takeaways from the week:
Defense decision-makers used to be closed off and hard to access. That’s changing!
There seems to be a collective reckoning from the Pentagon – and particularly from innovation-oriented customers like AFWERX, SOFWERX and Army Futures Command – that they need to be engaging directly with industry in order to move the ball forward on innovation. This was in plain sight at SXSW, where many showed up in person with a specific agenda to learn more. I was especially impressed with the showing from DIUx, where the stated focus is on coordinated outreach to industry – with the engagement level to back it up. DIU and AFWERX even host an “open door” with office hours for anyone who wanted to drop by.
The Pentagon is recognizing that AI and autonomy present new challenges and unsolved opportunities
As I’ve seen and heard throughout this year, the Pentagon is eager to put AI to use on the battlefield – but its implementation is another can of worms. A number of stakeholders, particularly from AFWERX, discussed the tactical challenges of creating the right software value chain and programming detail to support AI-driven fleet management efforts like the ones we’re experimenting with at HevenDrones.
Venture seems to recognize the need to play a stronger role in defense
SBIR/STTR funds are a great source of undiluted funds for emerging tech like ours, but they’re not fully sufficient for the large-scale fundraise that’s often needed to develop compelling technology. I was pleased to see direct engagement between DARPA, AFWERX and the venture capital community, including a panel discussing how funding models can be combined in compelling ways to fund further defense innovation.
There’s new public awareness of the role the DoD has historically played in innovation
In line with the defense community’s increased presence at SXSW, a mainstage panel at SXSW proper discussed the Pentagon as “the greatest innovator in the history of the world.” I love hearing this because it’s true! The connection between defense research and commercial tech has resulted in the Internet and the creation of Silicon Valley itself. Inherent in this topic is how important defense investment in basic research is – a topic I’m passionate about, particularly as we aim to solve today’s global challenges.
Bentzion
