DoD’s New DaVenCi Code
Would you believe the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is drinking more of the Silicon Valley Kool Aid? That is, a new DoD program, called the Defense Venture Catalyst Initiative (or DaVenCi for short) is working to link up its personnel with venture capitalists who recommend for military use new innovations and technologies being developed by startups around the country.
The point is that DoD may be evolving out of old-style procurement and speeding up dramatically its identification and acquisition of technologies it needs for national defense. The New York Times earlier this week ran a piece on how all of this is coming about.
And for more, consider Tech Transfer eNews’s (subscription required) angle on this topic in its recent issue, which is that universities have an equally vital role to play (along with VCs) with regard to programs like DaVenCi. “The initiative — and the article — ignore the potential role of university tech transfer in that effort,” according to eNews. And it adds: “The focus on VC’s shouldn’t stop determined tech transfer managers from marketing their IP.”