Totally uncoordinated, but not coincidentally, both the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum USA 2020 and DEFx Nederland took place in recent days. Online because of corona but as always under the motto: “Inspire, Connect, Empower”. Innovation is not a department!
Both the Defence Entrepreneurs Forum and DEFx Nederland are grassroots organizations, loosely affiliated with, but not subordinate to, the Department of Defense. Members come from the MOD, government and private industry. There is also an active branch in Australia; DEFAUS, associated with Grounded Curiosity. It was the eight meeting in the US and the third meeting in the Netherlands. You can read the report of last year’s Dutch 2019 edition here.
There are certainly differences between the US, Dutch and Australian branches, but members have one thing in common; a deep-felt desire to innovate and improve their respective defense organizations. Members are mostly millennials who don’t want to wait for 20 years ’to be in charge’.
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