EMT Holdings’ Post

Our latest blog is out today, authored by Jennifer Boaz, President of Investigative Services at EMT. It's a great write-up - you can check it out below!

speaking truth to power

Fascinating day at CERGE-EI Foundation #PriceofWarConference in London yesterday. The pace of change both geopolitically and technologically is making the world a rapidly evolving environment for national security. Capital is not being utilised efficiently both by governments and the private sector and legacy primes are not agile enough to adapt. "The West is using technology of yesterday to fight today." The opportunity exists to approach this issue with a fresh approach, connecting defence, vision, expertise and capital more efficiently, and capital needs deploying with precision. There is a dire need to address the consistent underperformance of VC and PE funds, and to ensure the warfighter of today is empowered by technology of tomorrow. 4M Group DCI Next Neptune SHIELD Tech Hub Nicholas Rocha John (Jay) Gibson II Nate Hartley David Petrie Scott Frayser Brandon Newell Billy Snider Goutam Gandhi

Felicis GP Niki Pezeshki sat down with Nini Hamrick and Brett Granberg, co-founders who are transforming defense technology. After meeting at Stanford's GSB, they founded Vannevar Labs with a mission to support intelligence missions. The discussion explored: - Building impactful defense products - Structuring intelligence R&D teams - Creating strategic partnerships with the Department of Defense This excerpt features Nini sharing about the kind of person that thrives at Vannevar. Visit the link in the comments to watch the full talk. #DefenseTech #NationalSecurity

AFWERX Phase I SBIR: A Strategic Market Entry for Companies For businesses looking to break into the defense sector, particularly with the U.S. Air Force, the AFWERX Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a game changer. It’s designed to help small companies explore new technologies and innovative solutions, while offering an incredible market entry point into the Department of Defense. Need guidance? Reach out to Gallium Solutions—we specialize in helping businesses navigate this process and accelerate their path to success in working with the U.S. Air Force. #AFWERX #SBIR #wetransitionyourtech

AFWERX: an opportunity to work with and receive funding from the innovative arm of the Department of the Air Force Open Date: April 24, 2024 Close Date: May 23, 2024 The AFWERX SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Direct to Phase II opportunity is a research and development contract opportunity designed to support the development and delivery of innovative prototypes. With a budget of up to $1.25 million and a period of performance spanning 21 months, this initiative provides US-based small businesses with the resources and support needed to adapt and integrate their dual-use technologies to advance Air Force capabilities. Why partner with Sightline Ventures as your DOD contract consultant? Because no one should have to navigate DOD funding alone. https://loom.ly/_cSnlB0 #SightlineVentures #DODOpportunity

These initiatives under AFWERX's AFVentures, specifically aimed at helping small businesses transition their technologies from prototypes to operational capabilities within the Air Force and Space Force. These programs address the notorious "valley of death"—the challenging phase where many innovations falter due to insufficient funding or support. #smallbusiness #business #research #airforce #dod

".....mapping the most promising, highest impact and most mature research capabilities to the acquisition system is a long overdue reform. Either the Defense Department or Congress should require transition plans for successful research. Since research without a transition plan to production confines the research to a lab, research projects of any size should be explicitly mapped to a military need and a customer willing to identify budget dollars to acquire the capability. Since research outcomes are uncertain there will not be a one-to-one correlation of research to acquisition, but a system that does not even prioritize this connection is doomed to both waste money and frustrate vendors. We must ensure our record investment in research is connected explicitly to an acquisition system that fields capabilities for our warfighters."

The #DoD is not a company. Say it with me now… the #dod is not a company. There are no private shareholders. There is no “CEO”. The business model is not the right frame. Sure… are there bureaucratic reasons to have better coordination between R&E and A&S? Yes. But there are good- legally required through Congress (because it’s the American taxpayer who pays for the budget) reasons- why there are different legal authorities and different incentive structures. This is not a *profit maximization* model. It’s a long and short term capabilities model that has to be equipped now, prepare for contingencies and plan for long term undetermined futures. Stop talking about it like a company.

This goes beyond the transition of projects to programs of record; it also calls for an intricate architecture needed to depict an integrated framework across portfolio, domain, and enterprise.