The Department of Defense (DoD) is poised to introduce a Defense Innovation Advisory Board Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced this week.
Speaking at a Microsoft-sponsored breakfast in Seattle, Carter said the board will “advise me and my successors on how the DoD can better connect to innovation and make better use of it—including by changing ourselves.
The Board will be chaired by Eric Schmidt and executive with Google's parent company Alphabet. Schmidt is the author of “How Google Works.”
Carter stressed that DoD must partner with the technological communities (e.g. Seattle, Silicon Valley, and Boston) “because technology is commercial and the competition is global.” The Secretary likened the Innovation Advisory Board to the Defense Business Board (DBB), which provides DoD with independent advice on the potential use of the best business practices.
Carter emphasized in Seattle that DoD must “innovate for the future, because that's the way to make sure we have the finest fighting force in the world tomorrow, 10 years for now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now.” So, DoD must invest in innovation to ensure that the U.S. Military stays the best in a changing and competitive world,” he said.
In a statement released by the Pentagon, DoD Press Secretary Peter Cook the Board's mandate will be “to provide department leaders independent advice on innovative and adaptive means to address future organizational and cultural challenges, including the use of technology alternatives.” The Board is expected to provide advice on particular areas of expertise such as, rapid prototyping, iterative product development, complex data analysis used in business decisions, mobile and cloud applications, and information sharing
Cook said the board (including up to 12 members) will be jointly selected by Schmidt and Secretary Carter. Members will be experienced in leading large private and public organizations and will have identified and adopted new technology concepts. They “will represent a cross-section of of America's most innovative industries, Cook said.
