The most striking innovations at times come from the smallest companies rather than industrial giants. For that reason, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is seeking solutions to warfighting challenges from smaller companies and coalition partners. The military will collaborate with smaller firms through its Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, with funding available from The Office of Strategic Capital as well as the Small Business Administration for small startups.
The DoD is looking for ideas that can be turned into prototypes for testing in laboratories and then in the field. It's hoping that smaller companies feel they can play significant roles in the development of new ideas to thwart old problems.
Heidi Shyu, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, explained, “The innovations that result don't need to be a 100% solution. They could be a 70% or 80% solution to a vexing warfighting problem.”
Among the defense organizations working to ease the way for small companies to contribute to military development efforts are the Defense Innovation Unit and the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, which allows the U.S. Army to experiment with technologies to better understand how they can be applied to battlefield conditions. To encourage new engineering talent to join military research laboratories, the labs offer funding for college tuition with provisions for graduates to spend some time with the financing organization.