Opening up military innovation: causal effects of reforms to U.S. defense research

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

POID Working Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

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 technology effects, but do create more program lock-in. The Open program attracts new types of applicants (e.g. start-ups), but openness also has a differential impact beyond inducing selection. These results suggest benefits from open approaches to innovation procurement.

Keywords: innovation; defense; R&D; procurement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-04-13
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Working Paper: Opening up military innovation: causal effects of reforms to US defense research (2021)
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