The intensifying global power competition is prompting United States government leaders to prioritize rapid technological innovation with more urgency than ever before.
Mike Madsen, acting director of the Defense Innovation Unit and previous Wash100 Award winner, shared his thoughts on what the U.S. should be doing and focusing on in the near-term in order to ultimately outpace competitors in the long-term.
“The serial entrepreneurship of the United States is really what put us in a leadership position decades ago. We need to get back to that rich, public-private partnership that birthed the tech ecosystem generations ago,” Madsen said in an exclusive video interview with Executive Mosaic.
Join Mike Madsen at the Potomac Officers Club’s in-person 9th Annual Defense R&D Summit tomorrow, March 23. It’s not too late to register! Save your spot here.
Embracing a fast follower strategy is another thing we need to be doing to stay ahead of the curve. Madsen said he was “thrilled” to see a fast follower strategy outlined in the 2022 National Defense Strategy, as DIU was one of the first Department of Defense entities advocating for the approach.
Madsen explained that the fast follower strategy’s mission is “to evaluate those technologies in the commercial sector, and for the ones that are undergoing the greatest rate of change, leverage that rate of change, leverage that development, leverage the R&D cost and remain a first adopter for those that we have to — things like hypersonics, directed energy — but be a fast follower with our commercial partners in those areas that they are leading.”
Lastly, Madsen urged a heightened focus on transmitting the government’s needs to industry much easier and more efficiently.
“We want to get the commercial tech sector to work with us, and we just need to make it easier for them to do that,” he said.
Watch Madsen’s full video interview here to hear his thoughts on topics like acquisition reform, tech development and more. Join the conversation with Madsen and other DOD decisionmakers during the 9th Annual Defense R&D Summit on March 23. Register here.
