The U.S. Defense Department wants to engage industry, universities and the general public to identify methods for the agency to incorporate technology into future military strategies, DoD News reported Wednesday.Amaani Lyle writes the agency will accept public input to shape the agency’s long-range research development plan under the Defense Innovation Initiative.
“The key opportunity out of this whole effort is to start a discussion,†said Stephen Welby, deputy assistant secretary of defense for systems engineering, according to DoD News.
“We’re hoping that by casting this wide net, we’ll be able to harness the creativity and innovation going on in the broader ecosystem and help us think about the future department in a new way,” Welby added, according to the report.
DoD seeks creative ideas in the space, underwater, munitions protection, air superiority and human-computer interaction areas, Lyle writes.
Welby noted the goal is to prepare for national security threats posed by “near-peer competitors” and state actors, as well as to preserve U.S. interests and liberty through technology.
