The Pentagon Reboots Its Silicon Valley Outpost
- Even its wireless connection took time to get switched on
- Tech tourism by Washington VIPs not respected in the valley
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One of Washington’s biggest and most ponderous bureaucracies reaches out to do business with Silicon Valley’s agile and impatient entrepreneurs. What could go wrong?
Plenty, based on the initial struggles of the Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental), or DIUx, the California technology outpost that’s a pet project of Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Only three of 20 projects in its pipeline were put under contract in its first eight months, an eternity in a region where a successful venture capital pitch can generate almost instant funding.