Opening up military innovation: causal effects of reforms to US defense research

Sabrina T. Howell, Jason Rathje, John Van Reenen and Jun Wong

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: For governments procuring innovation, one choice is whether to specify desired products (a “Conventional” approach) or allow firms to suggest ideas (an “Open” approach). Using a U.S. Air Force R&D grant program, where Open and Conventional competitions were held simultaneously, we find that Open awards increase both commercial innovation and technology adoption by the military. In contrast, Conventional awards have no positive effects on new technology, but do create more program lock-in. We present evidence that openness matters independently from inducing differential selection, for example of less well-established firms. These results suggest benefits from open approaches to innovation procurement.

Keywords: innovation; defense; R&D; procurement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H56 H57 O31 O32 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2025-09-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Published in Journal of Political Economy, 10, September, 2025. ISSN: 0022-3808

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:128343

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