DARPA: A Culture of Innovation

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has long been identified as having hit upon an institutional model that is uncommonly successful at catalyzing innovations that matter for national security (think here of stealth and smart munitions) and, at times, for society at large (think here of the internet and the miniaturized GPS in our smart phones). Among the ingredients of the agency’s “special sauce” are a deliberately fast turnover rate of the program managers who shepherd technology projects from start to finish, an embrace of failure as a valuable teacher, and a drive to hand off important nascent technology to those Service labs and industries that will take the technology to the finish line. In this video, which debuted on February 7, 2018 (the 60th anniversary of the DOD directive in 1958 that officially established the agency), the current as well as former DARPA directors explain for viewers what it takes to create and maintain one of the country’s most consequential cultures of innovation.