Defense Program Taps Into Small Business Innovation

摘要

Making the transition from research and development to acquisition by the military is hard. A Defense Department program called the Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) is designed to make that transition easier. It allows the military to collaborate with small businesses to provide innovative technologies that can be rapidly inserted into acquisition programs. RIF is administered by the office of the secretary of defense, by the assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering and the office of small business programs. "The RIF program is not about disruptive technologies, because these technologies are mature," said Bob Smith, the Navy's program manager for RIF. "But it has created a disruptive way of doing business because it has accelerated the acquisition process much faster than the normal budget cycle."