DoD Opens Second Innovation Hub
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter christened the facility in Boston this week after opening the first one last year in Silicon Valley, Calif.
The U.S. Department of Defense now has two innovation hubs in operation, after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened the second facility this week in Cambridge, Mass. He had opened the first one last year in Silicon Valley, Calif., a DoD News story reported.
They are designated Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, hubs that allow DoD to invest and work closely with U.S. technology communities. "Over the last 11 months since we first opened the doors of the West Coast office in Silicon Valley, DIUx . . . has helped us connect with hundreds of entrepreneurs and firms, making great progress in putting commercially based innovation into the hands of America's soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines," Carter said, according to the article, which said Carter launched DIUx 2.0 ikn May 2016 with several new features:
"It now reports directly to my office. It has its own contracting capability and budget resources. It has a new flatter, partnership-style leadership structure led by managing partner Raj Shah, an F-16 pilot and co-founder of a successful technology startup," Carter said during a news conference at the opening.
Carter said he wants DoD to be part of the coming revolution in biotechnology and the biosciences because teyh can have an impact on the health and welfare of the military's men and women in uniform.