Agencies, industry prioritize new partnerships to pursue innovation

As R&D dollars shift to the private sector, federal agencies and systems integrators alike look to partner with emerging tech firms to catch those critical sparks of innovation.

During a majority of our conversations with industry executives, the concept of a federal IT systems integrator having to build and cultivate a network of technology partners outside of what was once a traditional ecosystem inevitably comes up.

In fact, most of the leaders at integrators we speak with mention how government agencies themselves are the ones driving that push to bring innovation in from the outside -- not just Silicon Valley but other tech hubs like Boston, Denver and Austin, Texas.

Take for instance how Dawn Meyerreicks, CIA deputy director for science and technology, kicked off an event Tuesday in Washington, D.C. hosted by General Dynamics’ IT services segment.

Her reference to publicly-available data on the changing nature of research-and-development spending in the U.S (that is not the chart she used but still applicable) might help get the point across that the pyramid of innovation has flipped.

“Look at the shift and tell me where our R&D dollars come from… it’s mostly from commercial and an ever-decreasing percentage from the U.S. (government),” Meyerriecks said. “So if we’re not leveraging those trends collectively, then we’re not actually addressing mission as we should.”

The CIA and other intelligence agencies reach out to emerging technology companies through In-Q-Tel, the IC’s venture capital arm that invests in startups with emerging tools agencies see as promising.

IQT is one model of what many in industry call the “tech scouting” approach. Large defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have used the venture investment method as one tool in the toolbox as part of their search for innovations outside of themselves.

Many systems integrators such as GDIT and Raytheon too have embraced the partnership model as part of their tech scouting approach through not just attending trade shows to see what new innovations are out there but continual dialogue with VC firms and incubators in the startup scene.

The same paradigm shift of R&D spending at agencies is reflected in how integrators work with agencies, as described to a reporter roundtable Tuesday by GDIT Chief Technology Officer Yogesh Khanna.

“Gone are the days where large companies on their own would have a nontrivial budget to do R&D and it was all to drive innovation,” Khanna said. “I don’t think there’s an amount of money that I can ask for, and even if you had deep, deep pockets, that wouldn’t do justice to our client base to do innovation.

“Why would I spend tens of millions or even hundreds of millions in innovation, when I can literally leverage billions of dollars of innovation that’s happening in the industry,” he said.

For GDIT’s part, Khanna said they have a “very small team” whose primary job is to build relationships with VC firms. GDIT also has between 50 and 75 companies always on their radar as potential partners, he said.

Through new organizations like the Defense Innovation Unit and others, the Defense Department and other agencies have taken on the tech scouting mission themselves as well. But the role of integrators is to make sure agencies have their bases covered, according to GDIT Chief Information Officer Kristie Grinnell.

“The government doesn’t have the ability to go spend days and years in Silicon Valley, nor do they have the money to do that themselves,” Grinnell said. “Yet you have these new technologies that are coming out, these small startup companies that are saying ‘I have this really great technology, I just need a problem to solve with it.’”

As Grinnell hinted there, technology previously did not hit the market until it had a problem to solve but that pyramid has flipped as well, in that the tools themselves come out first.

“With the partnership that we have with all of this vendor ecosystem and us having that understanding of those specific problems we’re trying to solve, we can help match that,” Grinnell said.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.