(a) Establishment.—
There is established in the Department of Defense a Defense Innovation Unit (referred to in this section as the “Unit”).
(b) Director and Deputy Director.—
There is a Director of the Unit who shall be appointed by the Secretary of Defense from among persons with substantial experience in innovation and commercial technology, as determined by the Secretary.
(c) Authority of Director.—The Director is the head of the Unit. The Director—
(d) Responsibilities.—The Unit shall have the following responsibilities:
(1)
Seek out, identify, and support development of and experimentation with commercial technologies that have the potential to be implemented within the Department of Defense.
(2)
Accelerate the adoption or integration of commercial technologies within the Department of Defense to transform military capacity and capabilities.
(3)
Serve as the principal liaison between the Department of Defense and individuals and entities in the national security innovation base, including entrepreneurs, startups, commercial technology companies, and venture capital sources.
(4)
Carry out programs, projects, and other activities to strengthen the national security innovation base.
(5)
Coordinate and harmonize the activities of other organizations and elements of the Department of Defense on matters relating to commercial technologies, dual use technologies, and the innovation of such technologies.
(6)
Coordinate and advise efforts among elements of the Department of Defense on matters relating to the development, procurement, and fielding of nontraditional capabilities.
(7)
Coordinate with the Joint Staff and the commanders of the combatant commands to identify operational challenges that have the potential to be addressed through the use of nontraditional capabilities, including dual-use technologies, that are being developed and financed in the commercial sector.
(9)
Serve as the principal liaison between the Department of Defense, nontraditional defense contractors, investors in nontraditional defense companies, and departments and agencies of the Federal Government pursing [1] nontraditional capabilities similar to those pursued by the Department.
(10) Lead engagement with industry, academia, and other nongovernment entities to develop—
(A)
domestic capacity with respect to innovative, commercial, and dual-use technologies and the use of nontraditional defense contractors; and
(e) Support for Multi-stakeholder Partnerships.—
(1) The Director shall identify and support multi-stakeholder research and innovation partnerships that—
(2) Support provided by the Director to a multi-stakeholder research and innovation partnership under this subsection may include—
(3)
To the extent the Director determines appropriate, the Director shall seek to actively inform potential participants in multi-stakeholder research and innovation partnerships of the availability of Government-developed intellectual property that may be licensed to the partnership.
(4)
On an annual basis, the Director shall submit to the Secretary of Defense and the congressional defense committees a report on the activities, advances, outcomes, and work product of the multi-stakeholder research and innovation partnerships supported under this subsection.
(f) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) The term “multi-stakeholder research and innovation partnership” means a partnership composed of any combination of two or more of the following:
(A)
Universities, colleges, or other institutions of higher education with research and innovation capability.
(B)
Non-profit organizations that provide policy, research, outreach, operations, organizational, management, testing, evaluation, technology transfer, legal, financial, or advocacy expertise.
(C)
For-profit commercial enterprises that may be publicly or privately owned, early stage or mature, and incorporated or operating by another ownership structure.
(D)
Departments or agencies of the Federal Government with expertise, operations, or resources related to the objectives of the multi-stakeholder research and innovation partnership.
(2)
The term “nontraditional capability” means a solution to an operational challenge that can significantly leverage commercial innovation or external capital with minimal dependencies on fielded systems.
(3)
The term “nontraditional defense contractor” has the meaning given that term in section 3014 of this title.
(Added Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title IX, § 913(a)(1), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 365; amended Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title XVII, § 1701(a)(43), Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 2206.)