Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary at the Department of Defense and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, said she was beginning to think about some potential approaches DOD could carry out to help technology startups navigate the “valley of death” and other challenges after hearing some of the issues raised by executives during a roundtable discussion, Breaking Defense reported Monday.
“There will not be government solutions to all of the challenges that the government is facing, with regard to how to kind of manage through that full innovation cycle. That said, I think there’s a lot more that we can do,” she told the publication.
Hicks hinted at making some adjustments to existing incentives to help speed up the acquisition process for startups.
“My view isn’t like, I’m going to magically unlock special secret approaches that haven’t been touched before,” she told reporters. “I think it’s more about how you start to shift the incentives. Are you coming at the right time to solve some of these problems?”
