This past week Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and BENS member and TheIncLab President, Jim Smith, held its annual Eisenhower Awards ceremony, honoring U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, and Palantir Technologies co-founder and CEO, Dr. Alex Karp. This is a time-honored tradition honoring President Eisenhower’s ideal that a whole of nation approach is the key to national security, to peace and stability. The future of tech-enhanced defense was a key theme. BENS CEO Timothy Ray summed this up, “The battlefields of our future span not just warzones, but labs, factories, data centers. Emerging victorious in each of these domains will require all of us to do our part… the United States is a nation that draws on creativity from diversity, strength from our freedom, and unity from our shared values.” All of us that work to build an ever-stronger defense digital industrial base understand the importance of these words. And then Alex Karp captured the spirit of those passionate about the role of defense tech, “On a final note, for reasons that are impossible for people to explain outside of America, we are blessed with a tech ecosystem that is rivaled by none, and a government- Doug Beck is here and others- that is beginning to accelerate and embrace technology. Americans often underestimate how good we are at software and AI, but our adversaries do not … We just have to take our advantages, and double and triple down on them, and fight for that, and fight to integrate these technologies, invest in the things that we are better at, don’t compete with the adversary, use technologies and your advantage to beat them without entering a useless competition.” Congratulations to Secretary Raimondo and Dr. Karp. #BENS #NationalSecurity #Future #DefenseTech #TheMissionStartsHere
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Outcomes, outcomes, outcomes 👏
What matters most right now in defense innovation? We found out at the SXSW Glitter and Rage event: 💡Outcomes, outcomes, outcomes — The DoD has many new ideas and capabilities stuck at square one. To achieve mission outcomes, leaders need to align time and budget allocation with strategic priorities. 💡 Systemization over heroics — Today, innovators perform heroic work to get new solutions developed, resourced, and deployed. It doesn’t have to be this way. With the right systems for success, defense innovators can consistently turn ideas into outcomes. 💡 Speed is key — The DoD often sacrifices speed for certainty. Rapid prototyping and experimentation can help get viable solutions into the field faster. 💡 Innovation starts with people empowerment — Empowering, upskilling, and retaining the workforce will be crucial to achieving innovation readiness in the great power competition. 💡 Interoperability matters — There won’t be one tool to rule them all. An ecosystem of solutions connected via APIs will facilitate collaborative defense innovation at scale. Thank you, Sue Gordon, Bonnie Evangelista, and other defense innovation leaders for sharing your insights—and Second Front Systems for organizing a fantastic event. Looking forward to seeing how Capital Factory’s Joint Defense Innovation Office with Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), AFWERX, and NavalX accelerates collaboration on the priorities above. #SXSW2024 #Insights #DefenseTech
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What matters most right now in defense innovation? We found out at the SXSW Glitter and Rage event: 💡Outcomes, outcomes, outcomes — The DoD has many new ideas and capabilities stuck at square one. To achieve mission outcomes, leaders need to align time and budget allocation with strategic priorities. 💡 Systemization over heroics — Today, innovators perform heroic work to get new solutions developed, resourced, and deployed. It doesn’t have to be this way. With the right systems for success, defense innovators can consistently turn ideas into outcomes. 💡 Speed is key — The DoD often sacrifices speed for certainty. Rapid prototyping and experimentation can help get viable solutions into the field faster. 💡 Innovation starts with people empowerment — Empowering, upskilling, and retaining the workforce will be crucial to achieving innovation readiness in the great power competition. 💡 Interoperability matters — There won’t be one tool to rule them all. An ecosystem of solutions connected via APIs will facilitate collaborative defense innovation at scale. Thank you, Sue Gordon, Bonnie Evangelista, and other defense innovation leaders for sharing your insights—and Second Front Systems for organizing a fantastic event. Looking forward to seeing how Capital Factory’s Joint Defense Innovation Office with Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), AFWERX, and NavalX accelerates collaboration on the priorities above. #SXSW2024 #Insights #DefenseTech
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After giving my "It's About Time" lecture at many conferences over the last several years I finally decided to publish it. In the article below, I describe how we are at a unique moment in DOD history. Open architectures are liberating systems plagued by vendor lock with the promise to reinvigorate competition in our Defense Industrial Base. This marks an important transition for America and our Allies. Although our burgeoning software-defined era is just beginning it may be our saving grace. In addition to the promise to regain the temporal advantage, it has the potential to extract the latent capability currently trapped in our existing warfighting force. At EpiSci we're benefiting from DOD's willingness to rethink the age-old hardware-centric acquisitions model. As one of a select few truly "software-only" companies, we see our developers as a profit-center instead of a cost-center. I'm confident we're uniquely poised to maximize this opportunity. If you're interested in joining in this revolution please see our careers (https://lnkd.in/ehcdf2pT) or LinkedIn pages. If you'd like to read more please checkout the link to my Opinion Editorial in the Washington Technology publication by GovExec. Blue Skies! https://lnkd.in/eCYE-MWP
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I invest in 100 new startups a year... get a meeting with my team at launch.co/apply, or learn how to start a company by joining founder.university (our 12-week course). watch thisweekinstartups.com if you love startups
Shyam Sankar from Palantir recently shed light on the transformation in Silicon Valley's outlook toward defense technology over the past two decades. He delves into the historical context, noting how the defense industrial base has evolved since World War II and how mainstream companies such as Chrysler and General Mills once played significant roles. Sankar points out that today's landscape, dominated by specialized defence firms, is more the exception than the norm. #DefenseInnovation #palantir #tech #SiliconValleyShifts
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When the forces underlying a business model change significantly, the business model must change. In my presentation 'At the Inflection Point,' inspired by Andy Grove, the lifelong CEO of Intel Corporation, a man seen by many as the man who drove Silicon Valley's growth, I discuss the growth stages of empires and analyze how changes in the United States' business model will impact the security and economic growth of Norway and Europe. I want to thank Kristiansand Havn IKS and all the attending companies for a great event! #geopolitics #geopoliticalrivalry #security #internationaltrade #tradesecurity
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MBSE and Agile Facilitator | DoDAF Architecture, Wireless Engineering, Digital Engineering, and Agile
Bravo to everyone below. They remind me that so many aren’t working alone. Stop talking about changing, start delivering on change, and measuring outcomes. Anyone can draft policy, we need leaders willing to adapt and learn from mistakes, so DoD can have effective policy (as opposed to a pile of stuff nobody reads).
First (former) CTO and Chief Architect Officer, U.S. Space Force and Air Force | Board Member | PE+VC Investments | Founder | Speaker
Appreciate the gracious shout outs by Unshin L. Harpley and Air & Space Forces Magazine in today's article, yet... Making change that defies gravity is greater than Preston Dunlap, Nicolas M. Chaillan, or Derek Tournear It's a choice that everyone can make every day - and even better if we all make it together right now There are many unsung heroes out there trying to do so... But are faced with what can feel like insurmountable hurdles So when you come across those who are making a difference, let's do all we can to give them wind in the sails and break down all the barriers we can Defying Gravity is all our responsibility P.S. I am thankful that my colleague Derek Tournear and others like him remain in the game on the inside! "Similarly, in 2022, Preston Dunlap, the first-ever Chief Architect Officer of the Department of the Air Force, garnered attention with another LinkedIN post highlighting the need for systemic changes to the Pentagon bureaucracy... In his post, Dunlap also advocated for transforming the Pentagon’s acquisition process by embracing commercial technologies, concentrating on outcomes, involving external innovators, and adopting a rapid pace." Some of those heroes on the inside and outside (though too many to tag!): Robert 🦄 Slaughter Lauren Knausenberger Kristyn Jones General David H. Petraeus, US Army (Ret.) Dave Allvin Chance Saltzman Colleen Laughlin Jacqueline Van Ovost Anthony Cotton Craig Faller Toni Townes-Whitley Glen "Fats" VanHerck Chris Povak Matt Strohmeyer Sue Gordon Robert Work Robert Davis Heidi Shyu John B. Sherman Robert Skinner Craig Martell Mike Guetlein John Shaw Admiral James Stavridis
SDA Director Says He’s Willing to Be the ‘Bad Cop’ to Challenge Pentagon Bureaucracy
https://www.airandspaceforces.com
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National Health & Security Innovator | Founder | Impact Driven Entrepreneur | Mentor | SOF Veteran | Veteran Sherpa
Couldn’t agree with you more Adam Rentschler. There are many reasons why Bonnie Evangelista and her team have received this award. Like any great team, their passion outweighs the pain of facing all the non-believers on this road less traveled. Below I’ve outlined what I’ve seen thus far and what others can take away and apply to their journey as well. 🚀They hit the ground running and canvased the community looking for early adopters and created a coalition of believers before the platform went live. 🚀They used non-traditional methods and means to connect to industry. 🚀Their intrapreneuerial spirit is a driving force of their success. 🚀Most importantly Bonnie Evangelista’s belief to stand up for what’s right, even when it’s against the grain allowed others to follow in her foot steps. 🚀 They increased the literacy of our leaders which will allow them to pivot before the problem and use the platform. I hope everyone is watching. This is leadership and this is the future. This is more than an award but recognition of the principles, systems, structure and standards necessary to apply to whatever it is the rest of government is working on. #BurnTheBoats #COGD #IYKYK
Congratulations to our teammates at Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace, which was recently awarded the "Innovative Program of the Year" at the 10th Annual FORUM Innovation Awards in Washington, DC. This prestigious recognition was given by a panel of esteemed government and industry leaders from across the federal IT sector. The award honors programs that excel in pushing technological boundaries, showcasing innovation with proven results, and advancing their respective missions in health IT, federal civilian, and defense sectors. It also highlights Tradewinds' commitment to fostering innovation and advancing critical technologies within the DoD to close mission gaps. Ms. Bonnie Evangelista of the CDAO, proudly accepted the award at the ceremony on June 11, 2024.
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Lunar Commercialization & Infrastructure @ Intuitive Machines | Space Industrialist | Strategic Foresight
This is true for civil space, as well.
What happens after the defense tech bubble bursts? Most thoughtful investors in the defense / dual-use space are worried. They see big checks written at super high valuations from folks who didn't care at all about the space 2-3 years ago. The assumption for many seems to be that amazing technology and incredible teams can somehow magically generate the kinds of returns that we normally only see in enterprise and consumer tech. Hope is not a strategy, though. And investors can fall prey to FOMO and/or wishful thinking as much as the anyone else. Of course we want more investors looking at technology companies that promotes global peace & prosperity. But we don't want a massive wave of investment that dries up just as we need smart capital to scale up the winners. Companies seeking early-stage funding should be strategic about who writes them checks and manages expectations. Make sure they understand the growth trajectory for companies selling to the federal government. Hopefully they can be more than just a checkbook, and can bring in some of the talent needed to build new capabilities that will deter the next big war. Some rules of thumb: - the aerospace & defense market multiples are 1/3 (or less) of tech - bottom-up (i.e. warfighter) demand is necessary but not sufficient for big checks - no one in government gives 100% clear signal about what they will fund / procure - SBIR is not a signal from the market, except for more SBIR $ - R&D and prototype funding are disconnected from acquisitions and procurement, so don't confuse them - recurring revenue takes 4-5 years at best (with all the stars aligned) #dualuse #defensetech #nationalsecurity #vc #government #innovation
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".....mapping the most promising, highest impact and most mature research capabilities to the acquisition system is a long overdue reform. Either the Defense Department or Congress should require transition plans for successful research. Since research without a transition plan to production confines the research to a lab, research projects of any size should be explicitly mapped to a military need and a customer willing to identify budget dollars to acquire the capability. Since research outcomes are uncertain there will not be a one-to-one correlation of research to acquisition, but a system that does not even prioritize this connection is doomed to both waste money and frustrate vendors. We must ensure our record investment in research is connected explicitly to an acquisition system that fields capabilities for our warfighters."
Partner at Shield Capital; Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; Former Director, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), U.S. Department of Defense
Imagine if a company separated R&D from programs/products, we would wonder how it could be successful. This is how we’ve evolved in the Department of Defense such that R&D is a separate world from requirements (specifying what we buy) and acquisition (what we buy). To get capabilities to warfighters faster, we must fix this and connect our research investment to the acquisition system. #nationalsecurity #defensetech Shield Capital Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) The Hoover Institution, Stanford University Stanford Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation Lorin Selby Nathan P. Diller https://lnkd.in/gjnPWjAq
The Big Disconnect: Defense R&D And Warfighter Capabilities
forbes.com
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Failure = Value. Another great week of #defenseinnovation. A new teammate asked me this week, “How do you know so much about technology?” And when I answered, she looked at me like I was crazy. “Failure,” was my answer. So I had to explain… When you find a technology and try to get it adopted in DOD and it fails, you always remember it. And, eventually, it comes back around. When it does, you say “I know how we could do that!” Then, someone says, “How do you know so much about technology?” Failing fast is a term thrown around often. It is of great value. I had an idea this week we had to kill. It was a great idea, but we couldn’t get any organizations to support the technology. It wasn’t viable with all the other things the department needed to do today. So what happened next? That idea had to go on the shelf. People also talk about the “technology shelf,” but it is a real thing. When I was at JIDO, I had a list of “shelved” programs. If we needed them, we’d pull them out and deloy them. I firmly believe the one we put on the shelf this week will come back. The good thing is, the more you innovate, the bigger the shelf gets. Which brings me to my point. Building a National Security Innovation Base does not happen overnight. It takes a lot of failure to start to build successes. But, the longer we work at it, the better we get. So, we have to remember Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), AFWERX, NavalX, ARCWERX, SOFWERX, and all our DODx teammates have to work together, and share the successes, but also the failures. Things we put on the shelf are not really failures. We have to move on to the next thing. Just know, they will come back around.
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