Recent announcements by Razor’s Edge Ventures, America’s Frontier Fund, and the Quad Investor Network signal that the venture capital community is focusing its efforts on national security investment and American competitiveness – which has been formatively dubbed the “defense-related technologies” or “defense capabilities” sector. Others are calling it “Hacking for Defense”. On one level, the VC community’s pivot of its attention towards national security and innovation is the “dollars and cents” of it all.  But what about the “sense” of it all – i.e. the creative ideas, strategic vision, and program management structure to succeed? 

In late September, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine weighed in on the challenges ahead. Details of the report can be found here.