Accelerating government R&D with private financing

In this thesis, I argue that accelerating government research and development (R&D) with private financing could simultaneously improve the nation's war fighting readiness and economy. I submit that better utilization of United States Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories through alternative acquisition and development strategies can address current inefficiencies. I also suggest that public-private partnerships (PPPs) provide an opportunity to improve the nation's "technological innovation system." For-profit industries have much different business and funding models than the DoD. Entrepreneurial enterprises for bringing new technologies to the market abound. The questions addressed here are two-fold: (1) How can the business models and funding techniques from the private sector be effectively applied to a government organization such as the Naval Weapons and Armaments Center of Excellence (NWA CoE); and (2) Can a generalized and repeatable process in this domain be identified? I present a case for alternative financing for government R&D and I suggest that the NWA CoE is poised to experiment in this realm. I list many benefits of PPPs, but note that motivating Venture Capitalists or other non-traditional investors in government technology development efforts is a critical but challenging factor. I outline specific recommendations that NWA CoE management could implement in the near-term. With respect to a more generalized and repeatable process in the broader government domain, I suggest some long term recommendations.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Corzine, Andy Robert, 1970-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John Van Maanen.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/49776

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49776