Decades of Lost Potential in Defense Research and Development
In this episode, we unpack a deep and systemic challenge at the heart of U.S. defense innovation: how a flagship program intended to catalyse breakthrough technologies has, over decades, evolved into an engine of bureaucratic inertia and entrenched incumbency. Using the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program as a case study, we explore how misaligned incentives, flawed policy design, and organisational risk aversion have constrained entry for truly innovative firms, starved defence research of fresh ideas, and squandered taxpayer resources. More than a critique of one program, this…
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