Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced today that the Department of Defense will establish a new Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, presence in Austin, Texas, according to a Defense Department press release.
Like the existing DIUx offices in Silicon Valley and Boston, the team in Austin will link the department with America's leading innovators, so they can help address national security challenges and ensure America's warfighters remain on the cutting-edge of technology.
Secretary Carter was joined at the event by state and local officials, as well as technology leaders from Austin and the surrounding area, according to the release.
"I created DIUx last year because one of my core goals as secretary of defense has been to build, and in some cases rebuild, the bridges between our national security endeavor at the Pentagon and America's wonderfully innovative and open technology community," said Secretary Carter. "Austin's commitment to innovation, access to talent and academia, as well as the department's longstanding ties to Texas make this an ideal next location for DIUx."
Initially, the new DIUx reserve will occupy space within the renowned Austin technology incubator Capital Factory. It will be led by Christy Abizaid, who previously served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia and on the National Security Council staff. Other staff members will primarily be filled by local reservists and National Guard members already working within Austin's tech community. Abizaid will report to DIUx Managing Partner Raj Shah, according to the release.
"This Austin presence will introduce us to even more innovators looking to help America's warfighters," Abizaid said. "The entrepreneurs in this area, including many veterans, are working on cutting-edge technology that could benefit our troops. We want to make it easier for them to do business with the DoD."
DIUx is tackling some of America's toughest defense challenges and the team is seeking solutions in a variety of technological areas — from autonomy, artificial intelligence and machine learning to cybersecurity and analytics. Since the end of June, DIUx has made significant progress in finding commercial solutions to some of these problems through its new contracting mechanism, the commercial solutions opening or CSO, the release stated.
To date, DIUx has signed five agreements for $3.5 million, the first within just 31 days from initial company contact to award. Another 22 projects are in the pipeline, totaling an additional $65 million of forthcoming investment.
Because DIUx operates on a co-investment model in which it pools funds with the military end-users it works with, DIUx's $17 million of research and development expenditure is augmented by $51 million of additional funding by others within the department. For each $1 DIUx invests in innovative technology, other parts of the department are investing nearly $3, according to the DoD release.
For information on how to partner with the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, go to https://www.diux.mil/.