Knowmadics’ Post

📢 While "cuts" usually elicit a negative response, some very positive statements from Heidi Shyu regarding United States Department of Defense S&T funding for the operational force: ✅ shifting focus on "expediting technology transition from the laboratory into operational use" ✅ a 33% increase in the number of small businesses participating in the SBIR and STTR programs that have transitioned their technologies to SBIR and STTR Phase III, or commercialization phase, since 2021 ✅ "...we are focusing on transitioning more of the technologies that we’re developing from with small businesses as well as universities to push it over into the services" With over 15,000 individuals currently registered for Global SOF Foundation's #SOFWeek2024, don't miss the opportunity to network and learn more with #defensetech oriented panels including: "Technology as a Force Multiplier" with: Melissa Johnson, Doug Beck, Christian Brose, Catherine Wood, Catherine Reynolds (VitaKey) "Beyond the Textbook: Leveraging Academic Expertise for Next-Generation Defense Solutions" with: Andrea Henshall, Gene Keselman, Sambit Bhattacharya, Veronika Stelmakh, Dr. Jeremy Werner, Ph.D. (OSD/DOT&E) "Bridging the Gap: Blending Finance and Innovation Funding for Defense" with: Amanda W., Ryan Lewis, Ben Van Roo, Joe Musselman, Beth Cahill (Windsor Capital) In addition to presentations/panels on opportunities and how to work with: SOFWERX USSOCOM S&T Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate OSD DOT&E SIPET and many more... See comments 👇 for more information.

I finished Raj S. and Christopher Kirchhoff's book, Unit X, last night. I recommend all US citizens read it, especially in an election year (more about that later). The book recounts the forming of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), but more broadly recounts recent innovation with the national security space and the adoption of commercial technology by the United States Department of Defense. Some quick reflections: -With 2024 being an election year, I was refreshed to see the book recount how both #republicans and #democrats 1. tireless strive to improve defense capabilities and 2. sometimes even work together. -Mature large organizations/companies are (usually) inherently not incentivized to innovate. This applies to corporate America and the DOD. Most folks in the pentagon are patriots, but incentives are not aligned to drive decision makers to choose risky (new) solutions. -As we think about the future of AI, and how that will impact our world and lives, I am revisiting my preferential weighting on the liberty/security continuum. Traditionally strongly tilting towards liberty, I now am inching slightly closer to security. -Autocratic states can mandate portions of their population to drive innovation. Democratic republics are slow to institute any type of change, especially a buying program that has existed since the 1960s. -Those that write the first draft have an outsized impact on the final product. Entrepreneurs change the world. White papers create noise/awareness and sometimes people read them.

Check out these government program names with a geeky "sci-fi" twist. From Star Trek to Star Wars, discover the initiatives shaping defense technology in this recent post on #MFGSinc's blog.

Dissertation: Leveraging Electrotaxis-Controlled Microswimmers for Multidisciplinary Advancements in Healthcare, Defense, Energy, and AI Systems https://lnkd.in/geXQcTCX

Check out these government program names with a geeky "sci-fi" twist. From Star Trek to Star Wars, discover the initiatives shaping defense technology in this recent post on #MFGSinc's blog.

Our pioneering science and tech is shaping the defence and security landscape and is a vital pillar of our vision for the future. Hear from our experts as they explain how our #operationalanalysis and #research provide the understanding senior decision makers need. Techniques including mathematical modelling, social science expertise and war gaming help leaders make important choices. Our work impacts the way Defence operates, the decisions made and the technology used. It saves lives and gives our Armed Forces an operational advantage while ensuring the public get the best value for money and supporting highly skilled jobs in industry which benefit the economy.

Quite an interesting topic, brought up by BAE Systems, on the complexity of defence operations with a particular focus on #NATO operations. Here below a few bulletpoints, worth of further discussion and absolutely valid through a broad spectrum of realities: - 🛡 #Defence operations involve intricate physical and digital systems, supply chains, and collaborative efforts across various sectors. The coordination of these diverse elements needs to be effective and it is crucial for NATO's #multidomain operations. - 🌐 Understanding #complex #systems is vital, as they evolve dynamically, making prediction difficult yet offering surprising resilience. Lessons from fields like #economics, #mathematics, and #computer science can inform the challenge of multidomain operations. - 🗺 Complex systems can be considered indivisible, thus emphasizing global thinking for insightful pathways. - 🖥 AI may constitute a high potential in predicting conflicts and maintaining peace. To the same extent, gathering better data is vital for accurate simulations and exploring flexible system organization. - 🤝 Research on social dilemmas is also necessary to support cooperation in military systems. You can find the full article here:

🟢 Japan's answer to DARPA: Inside the launch of a game-changing defense research institute In response to evolving global security challenges, Japan's Defense Ministry will open a new research institute in Tokyo this October, modeled after the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The institute, provisionally named the Defense Innovation Technology Institute, will focus on developing innovative defense technologies, leveraging expertise from both the public and private sectors. This move represents Japan's commitment to enhancing its defense capabilities and fostering technological breakthroughs in critical areas such as AI and robotics.

Check out these government program names with a geeky "sci-fi" twist. From Star Trek to Star Wars, discover the initiatives shaping defense technology in this recent post on #MFGSinc's blog.

It has been a big few weeks in the defense tech ecosystem! As we wrap up an incredible week of activity and connection from the RSA Conference where a number of significant announcements were made, to United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF)'s #GEOINT Symposium to USSOCOM's always anticipated #SOFWEEK, to the Special Competitive Studies Project - SCSP's phenomenal #AI Expo and all of the Annual General Meetings in between (h/t Playground Global for a great one this week, featuring recent SVDG special guests Chris Miller and Steve Blank!) we want to take a moment to highlight a few big wins and celebrate the momentum that is so palpable. In a beautiful way, there are too many to list (given character limits!) in a single post so we'll do a few posts over the next few hours. The BLUF? Defense Tech activity of all sorts is heating up. Andreessen Horowitz raised $600M for #AmericanDynamism. Congress appropriated a massive increase of almost $2B dollars to the the combined DOD #innovation arms. Anduril Industries and General Atomics beat out a handful of well-positioned Primes on the #CCA down-select. xAI raised $6B to build a LLM GigaDataCenter and race towards “Real World AI Agents.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security stood up a new AI Safety advisory board, tapping some of the foremost experts from the tech sector. The US Navy awarded contracts to a handful of VC-backed companies for its Standard Missile Program.  The Australian government ‘picked a winner’ and made a big bet on a VC-backed US #quantumcomputing startup. Funding, entrepreneurship, DOD customer engagement, and political support for the NatSec Emerging Tech community has never been higher. Stay tuned for our thoughts on some of the past few weeks' highlights in subsequent posts and get ready for our comprehensive ecosystem analysis for 2024, in our soon-to-be-released, 2nd annual eedition of the SVDG #NatSec100 Report! Oh, we almost forgot…the word “Gundo” entered the NatSec lexicon… for better or worse…