Defense Innovation Unit Shifts into Higher Gear
2/11/2020
By Jon Harper
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Armed with new contracting authorities and a mandate to help the U.S. military stay head of peer competitors, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit is bringing new commercial partners into the fold and expanding its technological focus.
DIU was launched in 2015 by then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter to bridge the gap between the military and the nation’s tech hubs. It is headquartered in Mountain View, California, in Silicon Valley, with additional outposts in Austin, Texas, Boston and the Pentagon.
“More and more of what the department needs going into the future is dual-use technology, which means it’s equally or more important in the commercial space as it is for the military. So we’ve got to leverage what’s going on with the tremendous innovation hubs that we have around the country and make sure those companies … are thinking about the Department of Defense,†DIU Director Michael Brown said during a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/2/11/defense-innovation-unit-shifts-into-higher-gear
