DARPA: A Long History of Innovation

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Innovation at DARPA

A Long History of Innovation

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, was founded early in 1958 by

President Eisenhower. Initially called ARPA, it was created in response to the shock of

Sputnik and other early Soviet miss

ile achievements that suggested the U.S. might be falling

behind its Cold War rival in technological achievement and especially in the technologies of

war fighting and defense.

The agency encourages, funds, and manages research carried out by the military, private

industry, and academia to fulfill its mission of avoiding and creating technological surprise.

Over its almost six decades of existence, it has supported and guided work that has

“changed the world"—

a phrase frequently heard at DARPA to ensure a f

ocus on

transformative innovation as opposed to incremental improvements in existing

technologies.

DARPA’s many important achievements have included seminal roles in the development of

the Internet (initially known as Arpanet), stealth aircraft, miniaturized GPS technologies,

unmanned aerial vehicles, flat

-screen displays, and the brain

-computer interface work that

is making it possible for subjects to use their thoughts to move artificial limbs. In the process

of directly funding and managing the developme

nt and these and many other technologies,

the agency has also functioned as a catalyst for groundbreaking research and development

undertaken by industry and academia.

Its long history of successful innovation contributes to the agency’s continuing succes

s.

Internally, that track record sets a high bar of achievement and shows what is possible.

(Only partly joking, Biological Technology Office program manager Matt Hepburn has said,

“If you don’t invent the internet, you get a B.”) Externally, that history of valuable work

gives DARPA the credibility it needs to help maintain financial support and decision

-

making independence, even in the face of the failures and partial successes that inevitably

accompany ambitious efforts to do radically new things