DARPA, In-Q-Tel to Help 150 Research Teams Take Tech from Labs to Production Over the Next Five Years

DARPA, In-Q-Tel to Help 150 Research Teams Take Tech from Labs to Production Over the Next Five Years

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is formalizing and expanding a pilot program that connects its research teams to business expertise to help take technologies out of the lab and into production. 


In a partnership with nonprofit venture capital firm In-Q-Tel, the Embedded Entrepreneurship Initiative will provide 150 DARPA research teams with funds to hire business executives to develop go-to-market strategies, commercialization mentors and engagement with a DARPA working group stacked with corporate investors over the next five years. 


The EEI pilot program kicked off two years ago because DARPA sees the development of its projects—for technologies like 5G and 6G telecommunications, infectious disease therapeutics and diagnostics, microelectronics, and artificial intelligence—as foundational for U.S. military and economic power in the next century, Kacy Gerst, DARPA’s chief of commercial strategy, told Nextgov. The ultimate goal of the program is to help research teams create dual-use, go-to-market strategies for both defense and commercial markets. 


“More and more DARPA is investing in spaces that have a massive commercial market and a small defense market, like for example, microelectronics and biotechnology,” Gerst said. “If we want the [Defense Department]DOD to be able to use these technologies in the future, they need to be sitting within sustainable businesses.”


EEI targets two specific challenges related to development and adoption of these technologies, she said. DARPA research teams are technical, filled with skilled scientists and engineers focused on developing technology. Gerst said they often struggle to figure out how to take their technology to market because they lack business experience—as well as connection to investors. 


The existence of foreign adversarial investments layers on top of this challenge. Gerst said foreign investors have been aggressively targeting early-stage research teams “often while they’re still in the lab or t ..

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