Expanding its exploration of technology opportunities in the commercial marketplace, the Office of Naval Research's Commercial Technology Transition Officer is conducting the next in a series of technology transition "wargames." The game will be held March 11 through 13, 2003 in Warrenton, Virginia, with participants from government, industry, and the private venture capital community. It will explore various opportunities for venture initiatives that would facilitate the introduction of innovative technologies from commercial industry into the naval services.
The games are part of the Commercial Technology Transition Officer's "venture initiative," whose goal is to examine various processes modeled after commercial practices and adapt the best ones to serve the Navy and Marine Corps' technology needs. The March game will examine venture capital decision-making. It will explore venture capitalists' technology interests, motivations, assessment tools, and constraints. Concentrating on late-stage candidates for venture capital funding (as opposed to candidates for more speculative "angel" investing), the game will examine mechanisms for the Navy and Marine Corps to engage the venture capital community.
The lessons from the game will help the Commercial Technology Transition Officer to develop a Naval Venture Initiative that improves the transition of commercially-developed technologies to the Fleet.