By Cheryl Pellerin DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, October 29, 2015 — Two months after Defense
Secretary Ash Carter officially opened the doors of the Defense Innovation
Unit-Experimental in California’s Silicon Valley, the new director and his
early team members already are engaging with potential innovators.
During a one-on-one interview before giving a presentation
at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International “Unmanned
Systems: Defense 2015” meeting in Arlington, Virginia, DIUx Director Dr. George
Duchak, formerly director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s information
directorate and a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program manager,
told DoD News the new unit is in full startup mode.
“We have a building right outside the gate at Moffett Field
… called the Army Reserve Support Center, and we have an agreement with them
for 12,000 square feet of space. Currently, we occupy 3,000 square feet,”
Duchak said.
When the office is complete, the space will be open and
collegial, the director added, and, like a business incubator, people will work
together in a collaborative environment where all can coordinate and share
ideas and opportunities.
“We’re opening up that space so we can get a lot of
cross-pollination and cross-collaboration among the services,” Duchak said, as
well as among the Silicon Valley companies.
Working on Basics
The DIUx team is authorized to hire a director and a deputy,
a lawyer and four highly qualified experts, or HQEs. To date they’ve filled one
of the HQE billets, Duchak said, and the team is working on basics, such as
getting the office space built out and furnished and crafting the DIUx governance
and engagement models and its concept of operations.
The final DIUx team will consist of six to 10 people --
civilians, active-duty military, and Guard and Reserve service members --
augmented by contractor support in areas where they need expertise, the
director said.
Under the government team will be personnel from each
service and from defense agencies, and potentially from the combatant commands,
he said.
“Right now, we have an Air Force element, a U.S. Cyber
Command element, and Army and Navy elements that are on their way, but not yet
officially stood up there,” Duchak said.
Service Elements
Each element, depending on the service’s requirements, will
have six to 10 people who will be there specifically, the director said, to
address the needs of their services. Companies seeking opportunities with the
Defense Department also will be able to work directly with the services, he
added.
Carter announced the creation of DIUx in April at Stanford
University during a speech titled "Rewiring the Pentagon: Charting a New
Path on Innovation and Cybersecurity."
The DIUx mission is to strengthen relationships and build
new ones, scout for breakthrough and emerging technologies, and serve as a
local presence for the department in Silicon Valley.
Tech Matchmakers
“Our instruction is to be matchmakers,” Duchak explained,
adding that DIUx will be a hub for increasing DoD’s access to leading-edge
technologies from high-tech and startup companies and entrepreneurs.
“[DIUx will] find an interesting technology and connect that
with the warfighter. And by the warfighter, I broadly mean the science and
technology community, the acquisition community or the combatant commands --
the warfighters themselves,” he said.
“DIUx has no funds to see interesting technology, Duchak
noted. Rather, it will make the connection with the lab or program executive
office, and it's up to that organization to seek more information about a
technology. DIUx’s job, essentially, is to help Silicon Valley companies
navigate through DoD acquisition rules and regulations, he added.
Innovation Targets
During an Aug. 5 visit to Silicon Valley, Deputy Defense
Secretary Bob Work said the department is interested in innovation in areas
such as big data analytics, autonomy and robotics.
“I wouldn't necessarily go to Silicon Valley to find new
materials for jet engines or stealth technologies, … but the whole world is
going in the direction of doing big data analytics. The whole world is moving
in the direction of autonomy,” Duchak said.
The department also is looking at novel technologies in the
extremes: such as underwater capabilities and small satellites.
“We have spoken with a company that does underwater mapping
primarily for the oil and gas industry, but the capability also aligns with DoD
missions,” Duchak said.
The department also is looking at the half-dozen or so
companies that are putting into orbit small, but capable, satellites to serve
commercial needs, Duchak said.
“They’re doing things that I think caught DoD by surprise --
launching tens if not hundreds of small satellites that can shoot video from
space, … networking the satellites and then selling them to commercial
industry,” the director added.
“They’re really living on the edge and … making advances not
just in the technology but in the concept of operations, the business model,
all things that are very synergistic with DoD,” he said.
Duchak said the Silicon Valley DIUx team works not only with
local companies, but also with companies from all over the country. And once
the local unit has determined the best ways to engage the innovation community,
he said, DIUx-like units could open in other major tech innovation hubs such as
Boston, Austin, Cincinnati, Seattle and others.
X is for Experiment
The DIUx team isn’t looking only at small tech companies for
innovation, the director said.
DIUx and its efforts
do not replace the large system
integrators, he added, referring to companies such as Northrop, Boeing, L3 or
Raytheon, for example, which already make up the defense industrial base, but
will accentuate and complement their efforts and serve as a connector for the
industrial base as well. “We're agnostic,” Duchak said.
“If the warfighter benefits, I don't think we care if the
technology's adopted by the system integrator and incorporated into their
offering for the government, or if it goes direct through a program executive
officer and then to a system integrator, or from lab to market,” he said.
About the experimental nature of the DIUx effort, Duchak
said building and operating the unit will be a long journey. “We've got to
constantly be refining our business model,” he said, “and we've got to
constantly be refining what our value is to both DoD and the innovation
community.”
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