Innovation Hubs

The DoW has developed a growing network of innovation hubs that serve as critical bridges between commercial technology developers and defense mission needs. The importance of these organizations was reinforced in the SECWAR memo Transforming the Defense Innovation Ecosystem to Accelerate Warfighting Advantage, which states that the Department must "transform how it fights, buys, and builds" and align innovation activities around measurable warfighter outcomes, calling for greater unity, accountability, and speed in delivering capabilities to the force.

Under this framework, DoW innovation efforts are organized around three complementary forms of innovation:

1. Technology Innovation: Focuses on creating defense-unique capabilities that provide differentiated and protected military advantages. This includes advancing breakthrough technologies and converting scientific discovery into operational superiority.
2. Product Innovation: Leverages commercial markets, private investment, and entrepreneurial talent to rapidly adopt and scale commercially available technologies for defense applications. Innovation hubs are key enablers of this mission by connecting commercial solutions with defense requirements and accelerating acquisition pathways.
3. Operational Capability Innovation: Combines technology, systems, tactics, and doctrine in novel ways to create asymmetric warfighting advantages. This ensures innovation extends beyond technology development to how capabilities are employed in the field.

The Department's innovation ecosystem is enabled by several specialized organizations, each designed to accelerate a different aspect of innovation: