WASHINGTON D.C. - Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that the Pentagon has tapped ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt to head up what he has dubbed a Defense Innovation Advisory Board.
The purpose? To give government resources an edge in tech and innovations by bringing in top minds from the Silicon Valley, according to a Wired report.
Among many recent concerns for the government have been cyber security and innovation, even filtering into the produce industry when a state computer glitch meant that workers could not cross the border to aid in the summer harvest last year due to visas not being approved.
But as Schmidt, who is now the Executive Chairman of Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., moves the Internet giant’s reach to the Pentagon, what will this mean for the technological power and prowess of the Pentagon?
Carter is not being quiet about his hopes that the new board will, in essence, streamline better, more innovative tools for the military and government safeguards. "If we don’t innovate and be competitive, we’re not going to be the military that the country needs and deserves," Carter told reporters, according to Reuters. "We should have done it a while ago."
Topics the board would be advising on include:
- Rapid prototyping
- Iterative product development
- Business analytics
- Mobile apps
- The cloud
It will be interesting to see what outcome Schmidt, and other recruits from the Silicon Valley, will contribute to in this new role.
