What Happens Next And What It Means For Investors
Sometime in early 2020, these three competitors can expect to receive notice that they’re expected to launch — and the race will be on. Success will mean several million dollars of DARPA funding with which to continue developing rockets, and potentially new follow-on contracts with the Pentagon. Air Force Space Command leader Gen. Jay Raymond has already said he’s “extremely interested” in the results of the competition.
It could also set the winners up for a future IPO.
So far, Virgin Galactic is on record as planning to IPO its business “over a bit of time.”
Likewise, Vector CEO Jim Cantrell has said his “goal” is “to make an initial public offering of Vector,” possibly as early as 2021.
As for the third company, well, we don’t even know for certain who that is, much less its IPO plans — but even so, two out of three ain’t bad. With any luck, investors will soon get a chance to invest in at least one or two of these companies.
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A Pile Of Experiments
This is not the first time Canada has tried to tackle innovation. There has been a pile of innovation experiments over the past decades, says Paul Dufour, a senior fellow at the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa.
The most recent created the innovation superclusters: five industry-led publicprivate collaborations scattered around the country that focus on specific areas, such as artificial intelligence and ocean-based technologies, in which Canada is globally competitive. Established in 2018, the superclusters have had mixed success so far, but were awarded Can$750 million in the fiscal year 2022 budget to continue their work for another six years.
Although officials have not yet finalized the details of the innovation agency, it will differ from the superclusters, says Dan Breznitz, co-director of the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto, who is advising the government on its design. The superclusters are in specific regions of Canada and focus on certain industries, he says, whereas the innovation agency will have a national focus and support a wide range of industries from high-tech start-ups to resource-based industries such as forestry.
The Canadian government plans to announce more details about the agency before the end of the year, after further consultations with stakeholders.
How Darpa Drives Brain Machine Interface Research
November 22, 2020
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency invests millions inbrain-computer interface projects every year, effectively driving theBCI research agenda. This post catalogs the various programs and theirrecipients, tracking DARPA’s investments over the decades
Nobody has funded the BCI research and development with as muchsustained energy as DARPA. Almost every advance or major technology inthe field can be traced back to DARPA funding to the researchers.Neuralink’s ‘sewingmachine’surgical robot can be traced to the 5-year $70M SUBNETs program, theinitial concept for theStentrodewas funded by the RE-NET program, and the prosthetic limbs used by earlyBraingate trials were funded by the ‘Revolutionizing Prosthetics’program. Startups like Nia Therapeutics, Paradromics, and the recentlyacquired Iota Biosciences also owe DARPA either for direct investmentor for funding of the underlying technology.
The Agency funds multi-million-dollar research programs that typicallylast 4 years and have very specific ambitious goals. DARPA announces programspublicly, and candidates compete individually or byforming consortia to develop competitive proposals. Successful awardeesor recipients are called ‘performers’. The research that is fundedusually shapes the future of the entire field for a few years.
The overarching goals of DARPA research funding for BCI are
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Accelerating The Third Wave
The large investment amount will be spread across a multitude of endeavors under a program dubbed the AI Next campaign. Machines lack contextual reasoning capabilities, and their training must cover every eventuality, which is not only costly but ultimately impossible, says Dr. Steven Walker, director of the program. We want to explore how machines can acquire human-like communication and reasoning capabilities, with the ability to recognize new situations and environments and adapt to them.
This mission aligns with DARPAs AI Exploration program, an initiative for fostering the third wave of AI, intelligence that can comprehend and explain how it comes to conclusions. Announced just last July, the AIE program will be a key component of the AI Next campaign.
But it will be far from the only focus Key areas of the campaign include automating critical DoD business processes, such as security clearance vetting or accrediting software systems for operational deployment, according to the agencys website.
Darpa Budget Request Seeks To Bolster Critical Defense Technologies
WASHINGTON The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agencys $4.1 billion request for fiscal 2023 prioritizes technologies critical for the Pentagon, including microelectronics, biotechnology and artificial intelligence, budget documents show.
DARPAs detailed fiscal 2023 budget plan was released April 25, nearly a month after the Department of Defense unveiled its top-level spending request. The budget proposal shows a $250 million increase over the $3.8 billion Congress appropriated for DARPA in fiscal 2022, largely driven by an $883 million ask for microelectronics, $414 million for biotech programs and $412 million for AI efforts.
The Pentagon is developing a strategy for investment in 14 critical technologies, many of which are reflected in DARPAs budget priorities. Director Stefanie Tompkins has said that while other agencies may take incremental steps toward addressing these areas, DARPA wants to provoke major capability shifts through its programs.
DARPA is looking at what is the big breakthrough that might break whats on everybody elses roadmap and change the entire solution space, she said during the C4ISRNET Conference on April 20.
It also includes $25 million for a program called Next-Generation Microelectronics Prototyping Designs, which is aimed at developing designs that can improve performance and reduce the size and cost of chips.
We dont feel that the major top-down push is necessary anymore, given its ubiquity in a lot of our programs, she said.
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Akoustis Signs New Darpa Contract To Advance Xbaw Technology
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Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Is the Premier Government Agency Making Pivotal Investments in Breakthrough Technologies for National Security
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New Multi-Year, Multi-Million Dollar Program to Extend the Operating Range of XBAW to 18 GHz
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New Materials and Device Manufacturing to Target Commercial and Defense Markets
Charlotte, N.C., June 23, 2022 — Akoustis Technologies, Inc. , an integrated device manufacturer of patented bulk acoustic wave high-band RF filters for mobile and other wireless applications, announced today that it has entered into a new multi-year, multi-million dollar contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to pursue new materials and device manufacturing methods. As a result of the expected advances, the program could extend the Companys patented and proprietary XBAW® technology to 18 GHz, opening up significant new commercial and defense applications to Akoustis.
Akoustis is actively delivering volume production of its Wi-Fi 6 tandem filter solutions, shipping multiple 5G small cell XBAW® filter solutions, delivering initial designs of its new 5G mobile filter solutions to multiple customers and has entered the market with its new Wi-Fi 6E coexistence XBAW® filter solutions.
About Akoustis Technologies, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements
Canada Announces New Innovation Agency And Its Not Modelled On Darpa
Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland introduced the countrys federal budget on 7 April.Credit: Canadian Press/Shutterstock
The Canadian government has announced that it will invest Can$1 billion over the next five years to create a funding agency focused on innovation in science and technology. The unit will buck a trend of countries trying to replicate the renowned US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency instead, it will be modelled on innovation agencies in Finland and Israel. But some critics say that this strategy might not be a good fit for Canada, which is seeking to improve its poor track record of innovation.
The country has long lagged behind its peers, ranking last in the G7 group of wealthy nations in terms of business spending on research and development . Canadian businesses invest just 0.8% of the countrys gross domestic product in R& D, compared with the G7 average of 1.6%.
This is a well-known Canadian problem and an insidious one, said finance minister Chrystia Freeland in her 7 April speech setting out the fiscal year 2022 federal budget, which authorizes the agency. It is time for Canada to tackle it.
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Reassessing Valuation For The Darpa Stocks
One stock I considered overvalued, Hershey Co , which had been only slightly over my 5% cut off for overvaluation, dropped enough that it will now join the well-valued group. BLK and TROW which had been considered well-valued in September are now both well over that 5% cutoff and will join the overvalued group.
AMP, BLK, and TROW are all companies in the financial sector whose business revolves around offering and brokering stocks. They will be reporting their results very shortly. It will be worth keeping an eye on how investors respond to their forward guidance. If it disappoints or if broadly disappointing earnings from other companies reporting cause the market to sink, their prices may very well retreat closer to fair value. These financial stocks are sensitive to how well the market overall performs.
Steering Away From Darpa
Not everyone is convinced that the Finnish or Israeli model will work in Canada, however. Canadas big businesses tend to be conservative, and are difficult to motivate when it comes to R& D spending. For any of this to work, says Dufour, the new agency needs leadership from the private sector. He adds: Im not sure well have that here, like in Finland or Israel.
Canada is also a very different country: bigger than either Israel or Finland, both geographically and in population, and with stronger regional governments that sometimes make collaboration at the national level difficult, says Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a consultancy based in Toronto. A big part of the success of the IIA and TEKES comes from playing matchmaker with university researchers and businesses to form partnerships that can develop ideas and then take them to market. Canada might be too big to do that quickly, he says, and its businesses dont necessarily think about universities as innovation partners.
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Darpa Invests $65 Million In Developing Gene Editing Technologies
Just a few weeks after DARPA announced a major investment in developing brain-computer interface technology, the US government department has revealed another major project. The Safe Genes program is set to invest US$65 million over four years in seven teams that will investigate ways to make gene editing technologies safer, more targeted and potentially even reversible.
“The field of gene editing has been advancing at an astounding pace, opening the door to previously impossible genetic solutions but without much emphasis on how to mitigate potential downsides,” says Safe Genes program manager Renee Wegrzyn. “DARPA launched Safe Genes to begin to refine those capabilities by emphasizing safety first for the full range of potential applications, enabling responsible science to proceed by providing tools to prevent and mitigate misuse.”
The program has three main technical objectives: to develop processes that allow greater control of genome editing in living systems, to develop countermeasures that protect genome integrity in populations, and to investigate a way to remove engineered genes from living systems.
Much of the research will look at ways to inhibit gene drive systems. Gene drives are gene-editing techniques that promote the inheritance of a specific genetic modification through a population. It’s often discussed in relation to genetically modifying mosquitoes, to either limit their populations or their ability to transmit diseases.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Plans To Spend Some $896 Million On Microelectronics A Total That Is More Than The Combined Figures For Its Second And Third Big Money Investment Areas In Fy23
The US is investing heavily in microelectronics.
WASHINGTON: Flashy programs like hypersonic systems or altering human skin to be less attractive to mosquitos may get more public attention, but figures released by the militarys fringe R& D department today reveal that its money is really pouring into microelectronics.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to spend some $896 million on microelectronics, a total that is more than the combined figures for its second and third big money investment areas biotech and artificial intelligence, respectively, at about $410 million each in fiscal 2023, according to slides presented today by DARPA Director Stefanie Tompkins. Cyber projects come in fourth at $184 million, followed by hypersonics at $143 million and quantum research at $90 million.
The investment in microelectronics is part of DARPAs now five-year-old Electronics Resurgence Initiative, which Tompkins said was about essentially bringing back US leadership in microelectronics. Tompkins presented the budget figures today to industry officials during a webinar hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association.
That initiative, which Tompkins said was on the cusp of being updated to ERI 2.0, began in 2017 after DARPA said the military was suffering limited access to leading-edge electronics, challenging U.S. economic and security advantages.
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Congress Just Passed A Big Climate Bill No Not That One
A bipartisan act is quietly about to invest billions in boosting green technology.
Yesterday, President Joe Biden signed into law one of the most significant investments in fighting climate change ever undertaken by the United States. The new act will boost efforts to manufacture more zero-carbon technology in America, establish a new federal office to organize clean-energy innovation, and direct billions of dollars toward disaster-resilience research.
No, Im not talking about the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark Democratic climate and taxes bill that passed the Senate on Sunday along party lines. Im talking about a different piece of legislation: The CHIPS and Science Act.
Since it sailed through Congress last month, the CHIPS Act has mostly been touted as a $280 billion effort to revitalize the American semiconductor industry. What has attracted far less attention is that the law also invests tens of billions of dollars in technologies and new research that matter in the fight against climate change.
Over the next five years, the CHIPS Act could direct an estimated $67 billion, or roughly a quarter of its total funding, toward accelerating the growth of zero-carbon industries and conducting climate-relevant research, according to an analysis from RMI, a nonpartisan energy think tank based in Colorado.
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The People Behind The Programs Darpa Program Managers
Each DARPA program is the brainchild of a program manager. These arepowerful and interesting figures, handpicked for their role, which is toset ambitious goals for BCI technology and to shape its researchtrajectory. They have a limited tenure at DARPA- typically 4 years, butmost make their mark on the field during that time. One of the best waysto learn about DARPA programs is to listen to DARPA program managers,where they explain how they got the job, why they picked the priorityareas they did, and learn how DARPA works. DARPA hosts a podcastseries, where program manager Eric VanGiesonhas been featured speaking about some current programs. The NeuralImplant Podcast has also hosted 40-minute interviews with DARPA programmanagers JackJudy,the architect of the RE-NET program, and DougWeber,who speaks about his enthusiasm for peripheral interfaces.
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High Hopes For Small Payloads
And DARPA — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — is trying again. Earlier this month, the Pentagon’s mad scientists division announced a competition it’s calling the “DARPA Launch Challenge”. A select group of three privately owned space companies will attempt to demonstrate that they have what it takes to put a small payload in space on very short notice, and at a very cheap price — as low as $2 million per mission. DARPA says its Launch Challenge aims to develop a capability for “on-demand, flexible, and responsive launch of small payloads” for the U.S. military.
How flexible does DARPA expect its contractors to be?
“Today, most military and government launches are … planned years in advance and require large, fixed infrastructure,” says Todd Master, the Launch Challenge program manager. But DARPA wants “to move to a more risk-accepting philosophy and a much faster pace.” Thus, in the Launch Challenge competition, participants “will receive notice of the first launch site a few weeks prior to launch and exact details on the payload and intended orbit just days before launch.”
And it only gets harder from there. Assuming a participant launches its first payload successfully, it’ll be asked to gear up again and launch a second time, from a different site, with a different payload, and aim for a different orbit just a few “days or weeks” later.
So who will vie for these prizes? Three companies.
Darpa To Invest $1 Billion In Defense Manufacturing
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s own experimentation to streamline and improve the manufacturing process was highlighted during an event Friday at Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center, where President Obama unveiled the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership strategy. The plan allocates $500 million to leverage high-tech resources to create jobs and improve the United States’ global position in manufacturing.
DARPA used crowdsourcing and a new approach to manufacturing that reduced the process by a factor of five to develop the Experimental Crowd-derived Combat Support Vehicle , which Obama cited as an example of how collaboration and innovation can improve and create cost efficiency in the manufacturing process.
A company called Local Motors based in Arizona designed XC2V in a month, choosing the best out of 162 designs that were submitted to DARPA through a crowdsourcing endeavor that solicited ideas for the vehicle. The vehicle took 14 weeks to build.
This accelerated manufacturing process could not only save taxpayer dollars, “but it also could get products out to theater faster, which could save lives more quickly, and could then be used to transfer into the private sector more rapidly, which means we could get better products and services that we can sell and export around the world,” Obama said in his remarks, a transcript of which is available online.
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