Conference:  Transform X 2022

Authors: Emily Harding, Stephanie Halcrow, Paul Lekas, John Dulin, Lee Hudson

2022-10-19

The Department of Defense needs to become an attractive market for commercial companies and startups to apply innovative products and services in a meaningful way. Many potential technology providers believe the barriers to working with the DoD are too high. Congress and the department have created several initiatives and organizational structures to lower those barriers, but the DoD still struggles with transitioning innovation into production programs.With so few examples of new technology companies gaining footholds in the DoD, many perceive that the department is engaged in “innovation theater” by pursuing the appearance of innovation while maintaining institutional resistance to the concept. Without a real culture of innovation, the DoD risks losing ground to other entities willing to leverage commercial technology.This panel will discuss how maintaining political reputations and the fear of failure holds back innovation. They also will cover practical approaches for how the DoD can adopt pioneering technology more quickly, including revising the consortium model, providing better education about how AI and other advanced technologies work, and simplifying the procurement process to attract more private-sector technology companies.