Startups and governmental defense organizations have traditionally appeared to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Startups excel in speed and risk-taking, whereas defense organizations tend to be more prudent. Nonetheless, over the past few years, dynamics have shifted. Numerous startups are eager to collaborate with these entities, which consistently seek innovative answers to their most challenging issues.
To help close that divide while promoting research simultaneously, MIT Lecturer Gene Keselman initiated MIT’s Mission Innovation X (MIx) alongside Sertac Karaman, a professor in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Fiona Murray, the William Porter Professor of Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management. MIx curates educational programs, bolsters research at MIT, and fosters connections among government bodies, startups, and researchers.
“Startups are adept at commercializing their technology, yet they often lack knowledge on how to engage with the government, particularly in grasping the requirements of defense clients,” clarifies MIx Senior Program Manager Keenan Blatt. “There are numerous challenges tied to engaging with defense, not only concerning procurement cycles and timelines, but also due to cultural differences.”
MIx’s initiatives assist innovators in obtaining vital early stage funding while providing defense organizations access to leading-edge technologies, enhancing America’s security capabilities simultaneously. Additionally, through its endeavors, MIx has emerged as a thought leader in the evolving “dual-use” sector, where researchers and founders make informed decisions to develop technologies suited for both civilian and defense applications.
Gene Keselman, the executive director of MIx, as well as managing director of MIT’s venture studio Proto Ventures and a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, contends that MIT is strategically positioned to fulfill MIx’s objectives.
“It’s not mere coincidence that MIx is taking place at MIT,” remarks Keselman, noting that supporting national security “is intrinsic to MIT’s ethos.”
A legacy of service
MIx’s initiatives have deep historical connections at the Institute.
“MIT has collaborated with the Department of Defense since at least the 1940s, with roots tracing back to its founding days,” states Karaman, who also directs MIT’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), a research group with a noteworthy history of working with the government.
“The distinction today,” adds Murray, who teaches courses on establishing deep tech ventures and regional innovation ecosystems and serves as vice chair of NATO’s Innovation Fund, “is that defense departments and other entities aiming to promote defense, security, and resilience are seeking solutions from various innovation ecosystem players — universities, startup ventures, and venture capitalists — not just from the large prime contractors. This lesson has been learned from Ukraine, and the same ecosystem principle underlies our MIx initiative.”
MIx was established from the MIT Innovation Initiative in response to the interest Keselman observed from researchers and defense representatives in expanding MIT’s collaboration with defense and global security sectors. Approximately seven years ago, he recruited Katie Person, who transitioned from MIT last year to become a battalion commander, to manage this interest as a program manager for the initiative. MIx initiatives, including mentoring and educating founders, commenced shortly thereafter, and MIx officially launched at MIT in 2021.
“It exemplifies how MIT reacts to its students’ interests and external demands,” Keselman remarks.
Initial interest stemmed from startup founders wanting insights on collaborating with the defense sector and commercializing technologies with dual applications. This prompted the team to initiate the Dual Use Ventures course, designed to assist startup founders and other innovators in engaging with defense organizations. The course has since been offered annually during MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP) and tailored for NATO’s Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA).
Personnel from agencies including U.S. Special Operations Command were also keen on partnering with MIT students, which led the MIx team to create course 15.362/6.9160 (Engineering Innovation: Global Security Systems), which is taken each spring by students from MIT and Harvard University.
“There are government organizations aiming to be more innovative and collaborate with startups, while startups seek funding opportunities from the government and aspire to have the government as a customer,” Keselman states. “We act as the intermediary, facilitating connections, educating, and collaborating on research.”
MIx’s research endeavors grant students and graduate researchers chances to tackle significant real-world issues, and the MIT community has responded enthusiastically: More than 150 students applied for MIx’s positions in this summer’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.
“We are pushing the limits of what’s achievable and delving into the edges of technology, but doing so in a manner that can be published,” remarks MIx Head Research Scientist A.J. Perez ’13, MEng ’14, PhD ’23. “More broadly, our goal is to maximize support for students and researchers at MIT to address problems that are crucial to defense agencies.”
Initial successes
Some of MIx’s most significant research achievements to date have resulted from partnerships with startups. For instance, MIx assisted the startup Picogrid in obtaining a small business grant from the U.S. Air Force to develop an early wildfire detection system. As part of the grant, MIT students created a computer vision model for Picogrid’s devices capable of identifying smoke in the sky, demonstrating the technical viability of the system and outlining a promising new direction in machine learning.
In another recent collaboration with the MIT alumni-founded startup Nominal, MIT students contributed to enhancing and automating post-flight data analysis for the U.S. Air Force’s Test Pilot School.
MIx’sefforts to connect MIT’s innovators and the broader innovation ecosystem with defense agencies have already started to yield positive outcomes, and many within MIx believe that these early collaborations signal a larger potential ahead.
“We have barely begun to explore the possibilities for MIx,” states Karaman, “This could be just the inception of something much greater.”