A Paradigm Shift for how DoD Funds People to Drive Innovation through Entrepreneurial Science

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) funds approximately $2.7 billion in basic science annually (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2020) that generates many high impact innovations from graduate students working in university laboratories. However, the traditional academic path does not train these developing scientists on the process of technology transition and transfer (T3). This paper describes current ecosystem bottlenecks and explores lessons learned for DoD T3 from a novel doctoral program driven with a venture science pedagogy (Campbell, 2024) as well as a complementary entrepreneurial research fellowship. Best practices from these programs can inform the DoD’s extramural funding arms, e.g., the Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Office of Naval Research, etc., how to optimize their academic scientific investments and their student programs to enhance T3 and impact the acquisition workforce.