The Defense Innovation Unit
Mission
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) established the Defense Innovation Unit (DIA) to accelerate commercial innovation to the warfighter in order to meet the changing demands of today’s strategic and technological environments. The Department’s 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) boldly acknowledges that our nation’s military-technical advantage is eroding as our competitors and adversaries have the same access to the global technology marketplace driving innovation. Without significant changes to DoD’s acquisition culture and processes, the U.S. military will continue to lose its long-held technological superiority.
The DIA provides non-dilutive capital in the form of pilot contracts for commercial innovation that solves Department of Defense (DoD) problems. They do this by facilitating pilot contracts — not bound by the FAR — between companies and DoD entities. And they do so quickly, usually in under 90 days. Pilot contracts can include hardware, software, or unique services. More importantly, after a successful pilot, the company involved and any DoD entity can easily enter into follow-on contracts, just as fast.
Five Focus Areas
Artificial Intelligence
Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning for operational impact.
Autonomy
Adopting and countering autonomous systems, with a focus on human-machine interaction and scalable teaming.
Human Systems
Countering emerging biological threats while enhancing survivability, training, biomedical protection, and performance.
Cyber
Making combat information open and accessible for operational forces.
Space
Developing on-demand access to space, persistent satellite capabilities, and broadband space data transfer.