[caption id=”attachment_21687” align=”alignnone” width=”1200”] Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks during a visit to Capitol Factory, Austin, Tex., September 14, 2016. (DoD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Amber I. Smith)[/caption]
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the DOD will open its third technology innovation “outpost” in Austin, expanding the reach of the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental that serves as a “bridge between those in the U.S. military executing on some of our nation’s toughest security challenges and companies operating at the cutting edge of technology.”
DIUx, launched in 2015, already has locations in Silicon Valley and Boston.
From startups to venture capital, Carter is proactively reaching out to the technology industry to close the innovation gap between the Beltway and geographic regions with high-density digital ecosystems.
“I created DIUx last year because one of my core goals as secretary of defense has been to build, and in some case to re-build, bridges between our national security endeavor at the Pentagon and America’s wonderfully innovative and open technology community,” said Carter. “That’s important, because we’ve had a long history of partnership working together to develop and advance technologies like the Internet, GPS … satellite communications and the jet engine. What we’ve done together is not only benefitted both our security and our society but, it’s fair to say, the entire world.”
Watch Carter’s TechCrunch Disrupt interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3YQZSpD51Q