💰Commercial
Project applications for startups, established businesses, and investors.
There are thousands of individuals and organizations in the commercial world trying to make sense of what the national security community is doing about innovation.
Some of these entities are established and have longstanding ties to government groups like DARPA or one of the military labs. Others are new additions to the community or trying to determine if their products or services would be a good fit. Beyond that, there are investors and institutions who want to see innovation in national security increase and are backing it with funding.
Why Include Commercial Entities?
So how do commercial entities factor into this project?
Understanding the commercial landscape is important to truly appreciating what is happening in the ecosystem. For example, there are many problems that have nothing to do with technology and everything to do with policy, but Government continues to bemoan its technology challenges... showing how technology is perhaps not the problem can be helpful.
Incentives and cycles are a major part of the ecosystem, and there are key portions that depend on commercial services or capabilities, understanding of which will enable better questions and decisions on the part of Government, Academic, and Non-Profit groups.
Commercial entities are always part of the ecosystem going back as long as national security has been around. Helping those entities understand the ecosystem can help them act in ways that are more supportive of goals beyond their own profits and stakeholders.
How Do Commercial Entities Contribute?
For one thing, commercial entities have a unique perspective and separate interactions that help paint a picture of what this ecosystem contains, to include various feedback loops and gaps in information that reduce the efficacy of innovation efforts.
Having contributions from these viewpoints allows us to better appreciate what is really going on and devise questions and experiments that can help address systemic issues.
Additionally, there are tons of patriotic and servant-minded people who choose to work in the commercial sector for reasons that extend far beyond a paycheck. Limiting their representation or ability to participate would be not only rude, but also short-sighted.
Limitations on Project Use by Commercial Entities
While we recognize the importance of startups, businesses, and investors in the spread of innovation across national security, we also know that some of the incentives and cycles they operate with are different than those of other project stakeholders.
We are considering how to shape the License to address commercial use of the project in order to increase alignment and incentives.
Functionally, this might mean that commercial entities (and their employees)could be allowed to contribute in generative and aligned manners, but not use the project as a means of furthering their commercial aims.
More details and definitions are outlined in the License and Additional Licenses sections.
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