Over the past three years, the Defense Innovation Board has been a powerful advisory resource to advance innovation within the Defense Department, and to provide the secretary and deputy secretaries of defense with independent, practical, and actionable advice and recommendations about how to make use of that innovation.

“The Defense Innovation Board has played a pivotal role in driving innovation within the ,” said Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III. “Over the past four years, the DIB’s diverse expertise and practical recommendations have provided the department with valuable insights and actionable strategies to accelerate innovation at speed and scale, ensuring that the DOD remains at the forefront of technological advancements and prepared to meet the challenges of the future.”

The board originally stood up in February 2016. After a brief hiatus and subsequent reappointed in 2021, the insights and recommendations provided by the DIB have continued to strengthen department efforts to scale and adopt innovative technologies and systems.

“Innovation is a never-ending imperative for DOD, and I’m deeply proud of the progress we’ve made over the last four years — substantially lowering barriers to innovation across the DOD-enterprise, from the boardroom to the battlespace,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks. “There’s no doubt about it: innovation adoption is fundamentally a change-management problem. That’s why we’ve employed an effective theory of change — building trust and confidence across the defense enterprise, demonstrating what’s possible, rewarding game-changers, and promoting the best ideas and success through teamwork.”

Board Chairman Michael M. Bloomberg was nominated to lead the board in February 2022 by Austin. Since that time, he has guided board efforts related to artificial intelligence, software, data,…