Decades of Lost Potential in Defense Research and Development

In this episode, we unpack a deep and systemic challenge at the heart of U.S. defense innovation: how a flagship program intended to catalyse breakthrough technologies has, over decades, evolved into an engine of bureaucratic inertia and entrenched incumbency. Using the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program as a case study, we explore how misaligned incentives, flawed policy design, and organisational risk aversion have constrained entry for truly innovative firms, starved defence...