DoD opens new Defense Innovation Unit office in Chicago

Chicago gained a satellite office for the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) last week, which the agency will use to identify new solutions, companies, and people in the Midwest capable of helping with national security challenges.

“The opening of this Defense Innovation Office here in Chicago represents another way Illinois’ capability and drive for revolutionary technological change will serve the nation in the 21st century,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “Chicago and Illinois are proud to once again play an important role in building a better future – helping to safeguard democracy at home and abroad, today and in the years to come.”

In addition to solving the riddle of security challenges, the office will also offer Midwestern companies faster means of procuring DoD contracts. Major efforts will be focused on improving coordination in the region for local entrepreneurs and inventors, as well as lowering their barriers to entry. This marks the fifth such office for DIU, all operating on the logic that commercial technology plays an increasingly important role in equipping the modern military, be it for A.I., cyber, energy, or space needs.

“American innovators are crucial to increasing the strength and resiliency of our supply lines and leveraging the creativity and productivity of the American workforce,” Dr. Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense, said. “Today’s expansion of DIU will help to tap into talent and technology in the Midwest, and add a diverse resource to our innovation and modernization capabilities base.”

More than 80 public and private leaders attended the opening of the office in Chicago last week. It is co-located at the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI), and DIU will share the space with representatives from the National Security Innovation Network, the Army’s 75th Innovation Command, the Army Research Laboratory, members of the Illinois National Guard, and other DoD innovation groups.

DIU hosted a virtual Regional Roadshow on April 21, 2022, for companies and organizations across the Midwest potentially interested in doing business with the DoD. There, the organization laid out its role, the DoD’s focus areas and processes, and other methods underway to lower barriers for entry to the DoD.