The Pentagon on Wednesday opened the third hub of its Defense Innovation Unit Experimental in Austin, expanding what has been one of Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s top priorities.
Carter was in Austin to officially open the third branch. Like the hubs in Boston and Silicon Valley, the Austin branch will focus on building relationships between innovators and the Defense Department.
“Coming here made perfect sense. The ‘Silicon Hills’ of central Texas have long been a hotbed of scientific and technological innovation — from the garage inventors and dorm room entrepreneurs who follow in Michael Dell’s footsteps; to the startups nurtured in incubators like Capital Factory; to the researchers and grad students breaking new ground on campus at UT,” Carter said.
The newest DIUx hub will be based at Capital Factor, a tech incubator in Austin that Carter visited in March. Christy Abizaid, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, will head up the new office, which will be staffed by reservists and National Guardsmen already in Austin.
Retired Adm. Bill McRaven, the former head of U.S. Special Operations Command and current chancellor of the University of Texas, was named to the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Advisory Board in June.
While in Austin, Carter also touted the progress the two other DIUx offices have made since the first one opened in Silicon Valley in April 2015. So far, DIUx has signed five contracts for $3.5 million, but Carter said 22 more contracts, worth about $65 million, and coming down the pipeline.
The Boston-based hub, which officially opened in July, will focus on the city’s innovation in biotic and robotics.
