National Security Innovation Network
Abstract
The National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) is a program office within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering with a mission to build new networks of innovators that generate new solutions to national security problems. NSIN develops programs and services that are designed to help other DoD entities from the Military Services, Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, and Defense Agencies and Field Activities solve problems with non-traditional partners. NSIN is organized around three core lines of effort. These lines of effort include: 1) creating new opportunities for National Security Service by building models of service that account for generational and cultural differences between the military, academic, and venture communities and providing flexible pathways to official service within the Department of Defense; 2) solving national security problems by collaborating with partners from the academic and venture communities by engaging new problem-solvers in collision events with DoD customers that generate novel concepts and solutions and building a national network of problem-solving ecosystems that leverage the competitive advantages of regions and commercial innovation hubs for DoD customers; and 3) accelerating the adoption of novel concepts and solutions by facilitating engagement with DoD end users and transition partners to stimulate dual-use venture growth and improving Technology Transfer and Transition (T3) rates for DoD lab technology through dual-use commercialization via early-stage ventures. NSIN, working in partnership with other DoD innovation initiatives, seeks to maintain the long-term competitive advantage for the US military over peer and near-peer adversaries by tapping into high-potential uniformed and civilian employees of the DoD (i.e. entrepreneurs) and exponentially increasing with non-traditional innovators and entrepreneurs outside of the DoD. NSIN's programs and its physical and virtual network are the channels through which NSIN achieves its mission. NSIN's physical network is composed of 11 Regional Directors, each of which is located in critical venture innovation hubs throughout the country (Boston, MA; NYC, Washington, DC; Raleigh, NC: Chicago, IL: St. Louis, MO: Austin, TX; Denver, CO; Seattle, WA: San Diego, CA: and San Francisco, CA) and supported by University Program Directors (UPDs) that are embedded at critical universities throughout the country and are co-located with emerging or extant venture ecosystems. At objective stated, NSIN envisions approximately 35 such UPDs throughout the country and in all 50 states. NSIN, under its previous MD-5 nomenclature, has been a Congressional interest program that has received funding in FY 2016 ($5.000 million), FY 2017 ($25.000 million), FY 2018 ($25.500 million), and FY 2019 ($15.000 million) in the former PE 0603680D8Z. FY 2020 is the first year for the establishment of an independent PE for this program.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2021
- Source ID
- 845_0603950D8Z_3_0400_PB_2021
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- Root: National Security Innovation Network
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