Katherine Ziesing | Canberra
Whenever I think of Defence and innovation together I can’t help but recall the words of Tectonica’s David Levy and his presentation at D+I this year. “Nothing stimulates innovation like a purchase order,” he said to wide applause at the event.
And for many SMEs this is true. Cash flow is life and Defence is not a space where cash flow is a free and easy thing. How many SME Spotlight columns have you read in ADM that tell of the years-long journey necessary for many SMEs to establish themselves in the Defence space? Many companies tread similar paths when it comes to getting innovative ideas or technologies into Defence.
The paths to innovation in Defence have been for some time disparate and labyrinthine. A host of programs such as the Capability Technology Demonstrator series and its extensions to RPDE Tasks and Quicklooks have been doing excellent work but they operate in pockets with sponsors who have an idea of what they want.
"CDIC's 30 people are not going to be able to handle the demands placed upon it by Defence let alone industry."
Chairing the HunterNet Defence Conference last month, I did feel for both Kate Louis (First Assistant Secretary Defence Industry Policy Division) and Andrew Garth (General Manager, Centre for Defence Industry Capability) as both outlined their plans for the Centre and the work that their respective teams are doing to bring together the CDIC, Innovation Hub and support the Next Generation Technology Fund.
After hearing both of them speak at numerous events this year there is a sense in the audience that the CDIC will be the catchall for every program that ever made sense in Defence. If in doubt, CDIC has that covered. Both industry and Defence are expecting big things of CDIC alone and many don’t realise the Centre, even once fully staffed, is only set to boast 30 people in the coming 18 months.
CASG has roughly 120 acquisition programs on their books plus almost as many sustainment programs on the go plus the services minor programs and the work being done by CIOG, DSTG and EI&G. CDIC's 30 people are not going to be able to handle the demands placed upon it by Defence let alone industry which is now also a Fundamental Input to Capability. Even if 30 of the most excellent people that CDIC can find are in place, they are but human, and subject to limitations. I have no doubt that the original cadre of people will be supported by secondments from Defence agencies and industry will be needed to bring their mission to fruition.
Management thinker Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying that "you can't manage what you can't measure". Drucker means that you can't know whether or not you are successful unless success is defined and tracked. With a clearly established metric for success, you can quantify progress and adjust your process to produce the desired outcome. Without clear objectives, you're stuck in a constant state of guessing.
Innovation is one of concepts that everybody knows it when they see it, but measuring it can be tricky. There are a raft of indicators that can be tracked but they differ between environments and industries. What does innovation success look like in defence? Does it mean IP transfer and the growth of new skills? Does it mean using old technology in a new way? Does it mean getting ideas through an acquisition or development pipeline and commercialised? Does it see certain behaviours rewarded?
I think it is all these things and more. I think it means acknowledging that innovation is risky. Taking the risk anyway suggests implicitly the understanding that you have Rumsfeldian unknown unknowns. It is learning to fail early and cheaply. It is being ok with failure, knowing that perhaps the idea didn’t work this time but that doesn’t mean the next one won’t.
Among the long ‘to do’ list that CDIC faces, finding innovation metrics that are applicable to Defence is one amongst many. There is a new narrative in Defence post First Principles Review, and a big story arc in this space is innovation. Baby steps are being taken in the innovation realm as structures change and evolve. Getting some agility and responsiveness into Defence mechanisms will be key as will a change in behaviours on both sides of the fence.