In-Q-Tel: The translator between DoD, start-ups

Transcript

[Music] my guest today is Barry lefu the vice president of the government platform accelerator at incel also known as iqt Barry thanks so much for taking the time to join me great to see you Jason thank you let me say just a little bit of context for our discussion today the rate of change in the technology Market can make your head spin the continued growth and acceptance of things like artificial intelligence machine Lear learning Predictive Analytics is really something the technology Community has not really seen before add to that the developments to push compute to the edge the technology sector will continue this worldwind of change if you just look at the defense department and the intelligence Community they really need to do more to take advantage of this Innovation one key piece of that preparation of course is budget DD's proposed budget for fiscal 2024 includes $145 billion for research and development and $170 billion for procurement just for these emerging Technologies it's a clear indication DOD says of its commitment to stay on The Cutting Edge the intelligence Community the other part of our national security discussion mapped out a four-year investment strategy for emerging Technologies in 2022 its plan shifts for how the IC tracks research and development to ensure there is more of a connection to its Mission goals across all of the IC so how can DOD the IC and really all national security agencies take more advantage of these emerging Technologies well Barry that's where you come in you're going to tell us how they're going to do it so let's start there the iqt has seen a continued Focus on Innovative Technologies in in the National Security realm what are you seeing I mentioned AI I mentioned ml but there's probably a laundry list of them sure thing Jason so Jason you're absolutely right this seems to be one of the most dynamic times um since I I've been in technology in terms of Rapid advancements and new types of Innovative Technologies being introduced and at incel we our mission is really to be at that intersection of National Security and emerging um and important new technologies to support our national security for the P fast past 25 years we've really been an enabler to bring U new and Innovative commercial technology into the US National Security market and the 25 years this feels like a more than two decades ago right it feels such a long time ago I think we were in the client server World 25 years ago but talk a little bit about what you're seeing today I mean whether it's biotech or space or energy what are some of those Trends you're seeing yes Jason it's been remarkable right over the last 25 years we've seen client server the internet the rise of mobile and now uh with artificial intelligence I think it's one of the most significant and revolutionary changes that I've seen in In Our Lifetime and in addition to AI we're seeing other very large advances in terms of cyber uh Enterprise technology space and the whole Trend towards commercializing space uh is also very important and then also to really enable all this technology energy is incredibly supp important to make it essential and critical and more lightweight and then finally biotechnology is really emerging as such an important U enabler protector as well as finding new types of technology to solve very important medical issues we know cyber is important we know AI we can't you can't shake a stick without hearing about AI interesting when you talk about energy though as as a that enable it for National Security I think people don't quite get that if you don't have the energy if you don't be able to get the power generation to run your at the edge you're not going to run anything at the edge and is that is that something you're seeing more from the National Security in the defense world that they want more about how do we take advantage of emerging Energy Technologies yes AB absolutely Jason right there's a whole move towards enabling uh much more efficient powerful battery technologies and then also enabling uh remote activation of that technology it's fascinating in that there's now technology where literally batteries can be charged through beams uh going through the air and so there's incredible Innovation the other thing Jason that is really fascinating that we're seeing is and while Ai and ml is extremely uh Innovative we're seeing a a cross connection between Ai and ml driving advances in other areas such as energy and Battery Technology helping enable advance es and biotechnology as well as cyber so uh together they they're creating an even more kind of flywheel effect uh to help uh accelerate the growth of innovation I was been at a bunch of conferences recently about Ai and and the the theme is yes people are excited about it but it's also hey everything is built into AI you're not buying AI you're not just buying okay here's some AI bar go use it it's here is the Battery Technology that includes AI or here is the space operations the the low over at Satellite that includes AI to help you process is that kind of what you're starting to see the built-in versus the bolted on I know he use that for cyber all the time but you get my point yes um so Jason that is very much the case right where AI can be used as enabling technology in many different types of Technology uh Stacks or stove pipes but also AI can be a tremendous enabler for Enterprise technology right Enterprise Technologies advancing in terms of our ability to process and store massive amounts of uh of data and information being able to then layer AI enables us to do faster analysis support decision making and actually identify new ways of solving problems and then AI also becomes a key enabler of cyber because of its ability to rapidly detect and respond to cyber threats I don't want to miss the opportunity to comment on the charging your device through through Airwaves through through specific you didn't say laser beams but that's that's that be cool I need that for my iPhone right when we're all looking for the power you can charge up I hope that's coming sooner than later I didn't want to miss that opportunity to Pro I thought that's pretty cool thing um but the AI as enabler piece too is is really important because the Enterprise tech let's maybe go down that path what are some of those Innovations you're seeing with some of the emerging Technologies outside of the AI but but that's part of that emerging Tech discussion yeah so several fold U Jason one is uh the being able to leverage massive uh gpus right which are used for AI but to use gpus to process and to analyze data at scale um enabling literally 50 to 100 fold increases in the ability to analyze real real-time data so that's in a very important area in terms of Technology the other is the ability to move a lot of processing to the edge right so that in a disconected environment you can deploy to the edge uh autonomous systems that can react and respond on their own in real time was at an interesting event recently and was listening to disa speak and Steve Wallace who's their Chief technology officer among other things was talking about uh the disconnected distributed environment that did all D DL it's probably not EX what it means but but I think you you get my drift is is shrinking and I think and exactly why you're your point of saying that is that is that part of what the National Security that Dody they're looking at these types of Technologies because they want to shrink that disconnected distributed environment yes absolutely right there's always a desire to make systems lighter weight more efficient in terms of taking less power and then also being able to respond to a wide variety of situational types of scenarios is that something that as inel talks to the people the the vendors you work with they get that is that a message that D is sending in clear or is that just part of the evolution of Technology it doesn't really matter whether DOD is saying we want it to be this it's just this is where we're going because it has to go that way right so one of the terrific things about um iqt is right we really focus on Dual use Technologies where advances in commercial technology can be applied to the dod so I think the dod is doing excellent job of communicating their requirements uh we can always do more right but really what we're uh really positioned to do is to be that bridge between the national security community and the startups right uh there's sometimes a translation challenge right of taking fars and defs and converting those to the world of venture capital right and inkel is in a very unique position to help translate or U help expl explain to each side uh how to how to best work with each other and there's a huge excitement in the Venture Capital Community around the National Defense Aerospace Community uh I know in 2023 the number of mergers Acquisitions amount of investment by the the private Equity firms was huge so I think that there that translation is is again also shrinking because I think they understanding because of folks like you that are trying to help bridge that Gap is that Gap better or is it about the same How would how would you kind of well I I see that Gap shrinking Jason right as as everyone knows right we're in a uh very challenging geopolitical situation right there's a major power struggle between the US and and other parts of the world such as China and and Russia and what was going to be a key enabler for us and for our allies is to deploy and utilize Innovative technology to both protect the the Homeland as well as to support our allies so yes I do see that uh time shrinking and I think one of the um catalysts for that has been the situation in Ukraine right where really they're relying on technology um in the battlefield to provide an edge I mean you see this all the time with the impact of drones and now you're starting to see it in the Middle East the impact of drones how much of your work is not necessarily offensive drones but just more uas more generally that's must have been a huge area of focus in in the community to develop better faster cheaper ones yes AB absolutely uh drone technology is uh advancing at a at a rapid rate and they also can prod be produced at relatively low cost and what we're really focusing on is not as much the drones but the enabling technology to do things like remote sensing uh navigation and GPS denied environments and to operate autonomously and so that is really where you know bringing that intelligence and those additional capabilities to drones you mentioned a a couple Hot Topics you mentioned Enterprise Tech we talked a little bit about AI let's just take the last few minutes of this segment talk cyber we know that the amount of data that comes in from the cyber security tools is always increasing we know that the threats are getting much more serious and the uh Bad actors are using more Advanced Technologies and and the old saying Bad actors need to be right once and Defenders need to be right every time what are you starting to see around emerging Technologies and cyber security yes so severalfold first cyber security is so critical important to not only our national security but also our our critical infrastructure and every day we read about more and more attacks that are happening uh to to the US infrastructure what we're seeing from a cyber standpoint is severalfold one is uh using cyber tools to fully understand what devices are connected to the network how they're connected what versions of software and firmware are being utilized so that if there is a deficiency they can can be rapidly um addressed another area is uh basically what's called esom or the software bill of materials really identifying what components are in either gots or cot software so the government can have a firm understanding of any underlying vulnerabilities finally um another area Jason is really leveraging AI right to be more reactive and proactively identify threats uh that are incoming to help accelerate the the ability to uh to respond the sbom piece there's a lot of work being done currently in the government around okay what does it mean with the standards how do we make sure we use them well imagine what you all working on is is not so much the process piece but like what's the technology to make getting that information and understanding information more easily that's the type of things you're seeing from the people you work with I would guess yes absolutely it's uh first grou really doing that inventory or of what are the components in the es bomb but then also then correlating that information to identify any new or emerging threats that could impact those parts that are in the es bomb and then the other piece of this you mentioned AI again be less reactive more proactive uh are we starting to see some of that technology evolve or are you starting to are agencies able to get ahead of the data a little bit because I think that's the complaint I hear most from cisos and cios is there's just too much data keep up as is so hard yes there there is an overwhelming ex explosion of of data right and really what AI really can be come is an important tool to quickly do analytics of that data so we are seeing quite a few advances of using AI uh one example is a really interesting firm called through wve that has ident has uh developed a way to use AI to support the scanning of high volumes of packages so think about all the uh information and materials coming into the US right what is in all those packages and containers uh by using uh radio waves and AI they've been able to identify a way to quickly identify contrabands or illegal things in packages you said packages is where my mind went uh like like packets of data crossing the internet so right I went the other I went the other way on that uh bar we're going to take a quick break and come back we'll continue our conversation about uh iqt uh you're listening to the discussion Innovation and government sponsored by kerasoft on federal News Network welcome back you're listening to the discussion Innovation and government sponsored by koft on federal News Network I'm your host Jason Miller my guest today is Barry lefu the vice president of government platform accelerator at inel also known as iqt now Barry before break we're talking about some of those technologies that you're seeing Trends cyber AI emerging te Enterprise technology I want to take a half a step back you give us a little bit of about iqt a lot of people maybe have heard of you all but maybe aren't all that familiar so what should government what should industry folks really know about how you all work yes thanks Jason so iqt has been in existence now for 25 years and our mission has always stayed the same which is to be a strategic investor in dual use technology firms that can support National Security so the way we work is we work with our partner agencies in the National Security uh community to identify their most um important and pressing uh technology needs and problem sets and then we work to look at the Venture Capital Community the startup Community where a lot of innovation happens to identify firms and technologies that can help address those important national security problems we then make an investment along with other Venture Capital firms U for every dollar that incel make invests there's usually 28 of commercial Venture Capital that's invested along with us so we make investments in companies uh that are bring important technology to the National Security and then we really serve as a bridge to help bring that technology into the national security agencies to help them to Pilot it evaluate it and ideally then to deploy that technology to insolve important Mission needs people think of iqt now correct me if I'm wrong on this you're you guys were first kind of developed or the CIA funded you all there there's at least that rumor or at least that that that story behind it yes sure thing so iqt was created in the late 1990s by the CIA and it was really a result of the recognition of the explosion of commercial technology and how the government really wasn't keeping up to Pace with the VC community so iqt was formed by the CIA to help the CIA better understand the explosion and growth in technology since that time we've grown and we now have Partnerships with every IC agency including portions of the dod as well as Department of Homeland Security to identify their key technology needs and make investments and bring technology to those agencies as well and your funding is not derived from the government at least not anymore is that right or or how do you guys where's the funding come from to make these Investments generally some of the funding comes from from the government right in terms of our ongoing relationship with these companies and we are in intermediary then to bring that technology into the government but we also have over time have grown and incel uses its own funds as well to make investments uh on behalf of National Security I I appreciate that explanation I think people again funded by the CIA what is that mean it's been a it's been a couple years since that's happened so as you said more than 25 uh you also mentioned something that's really interesting serve as a bridge to bring stuff to National Security how do you serve as a bridge because you're not a contractor you're not winning a contract you are connecting the dots if you will yes that's correct so as I described we make an initial Equity investment in a startup that we think has a promising technology we then introduce that technology to some of our mission Partners the National Security Community agencies and then we facilitate Pilots or work programs for the agencies to try out pilot and then in some cases help enhance that technology to meet additional needs and requirements of the National Security Community I think the the the government sometimes gets a bad rap for not kind of finding the emerging Technologies or the non-traditional uh that's why there's been this big push for OTAs and other kind of non-fire based contracts in many ways this that's what you you all have been doing for many years is is exactly what they they hope to take advantage of through OTAs but I you're one company and I think they want to try to expand that to much bigger uh you mentioned Pilots other work programs bring build that bridge what are some of those areas you're looking at in in 2024 we know cyber AI of course and ones you mentioned but what let's dig deeper yes uh so certainly Ai and cyber are going to continue to see rapid Innovation right with respect to AI it's also looking at the whole AI ecosystem right bringing Technologies in to make sure the AI is secure to make sure that the AI is not biased and to make sure that the AI can't be exploited by our adversaries um the other really incredible technology Jason is the whole area of quantum Computing right Quantum really represents what could be a very fundamental and uh incredible change right to a lot of our infrastructure it really could change the way that encryption's done and um will require potentially dramatic changes to to the way that we encrypt and protect information so Quantum is is certainly an important area another is Material Science um using AI to create new and improved materials and then another area is biotechnology right luckily covid is uh pretty much in in the rearview mirror but we as a country want to be prepared that if another crisis emerges that we're better prepared to deal with it in the future I I think biotechnology has really been around for a long time but we all more aware of it because of Co and because of the uh really great work done by places like NIH and and other pharmaceutical areas that that that able to bring the the vaccines around much more quickly than we probably seen in the past what kind of Investments are we talking about when you when you look at biotech anything use case or any examples you can give yeah so SE several areas right one would be leveraging AI to create new types of protein molecules to help address uh different types of diseases and chronic conditions another is really helping to um use um Ai and Enterprise technology to surveil uh the emergence of new types of outbreaks new types of diseases right to kind of have a worldwide view of emerging threats and really being able to analyze in real time how pathogens might spread or how populations can be protected and there's a predictive side to this is with everything else we're seeing something starting to pop up that looks odd what does that mean we better pay closer attention to this versus the reactive side which I think we're we've been for a long time not just with biotech but but with cyber security and all it uhoh that happened we better go fix it so I think that that's pretty interesting uh the quantum piece let's talk a little bit about that as well another popular topic that folks kind of I think are excited to talk about but they're not sure how to talk about it yet uh are you starting to is quantum here or are folks able to to start testing it or we are we just on the cusp Quantum we are on the cusp of and we're starting to see people utilize Quantum in in some limited ways right one of the most important things for us is to really address what's called postquantum encryption which is to be able to make sure that our encryption devices can't be broken by our adversaries quantum computers so that's a really big area of Focus right now Jason and then we are seeing the testing and development of uh quantum computers um not only uh very specialized computers but figuring out how to miniaturize them how to bring a quantum computer so that it can be stored in a standard Data Center and processed in uh in a regular type of data center environment I think folks think of quantum they think of high performance Computing centers like Noah and some of the other big data heavy organizations have but it's interesting they're trying to shrink it for lack of better word like like we've seen with regular computers right the your Apple watch now has more power than the you know Atari 2600 that you and I had in 1982 or something right uh the postquantum encryption also is interesting I heard daa talk about this the other day they're also starting to look at this this is a lot of interest for daa is that a that's a big concern for National Security folks is that something that you're hearing from them Barry what's going on Barry what do you got for us Barry we need to see more yes absolutely in fact there's a recent n directive right that's requiring all all federal agencies to essentially do an inventory of their encryption device and encryption software so we're helping to bring solutions to address that as well as looking at ways to do postquantum encryption and bring solutions to to the market it's always funny post Quantum with after Quantum right yes it's like uh one of the things that iqt does and and I think this is a key piece to this when we talk all these great Technologies is really making the connection but one of the things that I I'm sure that you work with these companies is how do you make sure that they can scale the right way right you have the best little box but if you can only make one little box a year it doesn't really help the National Security side how do you get companies to understand like that their scale and size and what's really important for the National Security Mission yes that's ve very important part right and that that's a real core mission of the government platform accelerator is to really help educate startup companies to understand uh the size of the government Market the opportunity and then also how to you know deal with the government in in a way the government is somewhat of a a Walled Garden right to to companies in Silicon Valley and we spend a lot of time helping educate them on things like contract Vehicles the importance of key regulations and standards and really aligning their commercial products to the needs and the mission of the government I think a lot of people see government as exciting place to be because of the mission they there's a patriotic mission that they want to be a part of until they start seeing all the the the regulations and rules and requirements imagine it makes their head spin you get a lot of companies who say yeah Barry no thanks or do you have to kind of convince them we can help you get through the the the sticky wickets really a big part Jason is educating them to the about the opportunity right and helping show them how to really streamline their approach to working with government right if you U show up in Washington DC and you've never dealt in the government Market you'll quickly be overwhelmed by acronyms and bureaucracy and process but as we both know there's there are straightforward ways there's uh it's important to partner with other companies in the ecosystem uh build relationships and and be in the government market for the long term so I I really work very hard to educate our portfolio firms on not only is government an important Market from a national security standpoint but it's also a very large money uh Market from a financial standpoint as well and they pay well in the sense of like you never have to worry about the government going out of business because if they do it's a whole different problem we all will have right absolutely even though margins obviously aren't as big maybe as comparable I think that's been a a recent complaint uh bear we got just over a minute left or so uh you know we've had a good conversation we've Hit Upon a lot of topics AI cyber emerging technology Quantum even what what do you want folks to know about iqt what do you what's the big takeaway from our conversation that you want to leave folks with yep so Jason I've really enjoyed the discussion today thanks for hosting me I'd really like to leave the listeners with just the um the realization that technology and the rate of change is accelerating right over my life lifetime that cycle from one new tech to another is just going faster and faster and I think over the next few years we're going to see unprecedented amounts of change especially through the utilization of AI and all areas of government in in our society and at incel we really want to be on the Forefront of understanding what are these emerging new technologies right and how do we bring that to the National Security Community to help protect our country help give our country an edge and make sure that we're taking advantage of the most advanced technology and also Jason a lot of cases NE advanced technology doesn't necessarily mean spending more money it actually sometimes introduces efficiencies doing things more lightweight more agile and being more responsive to real-time needs and a lot of times what you all do in the National Security Community the defense Community really flows down to the civilian side as well and you know understanding cyber problems everyone has cyber problems understanding the the benefits of AI everyone can is looking for that that kind of golden oh okay I get now I can how I can use it so I think uh it's really important to start somewhere and and push it forward so uh I think people appreciate that about what inq does Barry we're out of time this was a very great conversation I learned a lot so let me thank my guest Barry lefu is the vice president of the government platform accelerator at inel also known as iqt Barry thank you so much for taking the time thank you Jason it's been a pleasure I'm Jason Miller and you've been listening to the discussion innovation in government sponsored by koft on federal News Network for 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