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DARPA and its ARPA-E and IARPA clones: a unique innovation organization model

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  • William B Bonvillian

Abstract

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was formed in 1958 as a research and development (R&D) agency within the US Department of Defense, while the two newer but closely comparable R&D agencies, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), were formed within the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2009 and 2007, respectively. The three share an ambitious innovation organization model, operating as public sector intermediaries between science and industry to pursue mission-oriented, high-risk/high-reward, breakthrough research. They also actively promote the follow-on development and implementation of technologies they support in their mission areas, achieving what has been termed mission innovation. They are therefore much more activist than more standard American R&D agencies, which do not pursue conscious technology strategies oriented to specific mission technology challenges. The three “ARPA” agencies tend to operate as change agents within the often conservative “legacy” sectors they operate within—defense, energy, and intelligence. Within the context of the overall US innovation system, DARPA and IARPA are leading examples of what can be termed the “extended pipeline” model, while ARPA-E is located within a more traditional R&D “pipeline” model agency, the DOE, trying to reach further down the innovation pipeline. All face the types of innovation barriers common to legacy sectors, which further challenge their efforts to implement their innovations. Despite these challenges, this ARPA model has proven quite dynamic; DARPA has an unparalleled record of technological advance, and the other two are rapidly building their own records. ARPA-E and IARPA show that the DARPA model is now a proven one in the innovation space, clearly relevant for consideration in other technology development mission sectors.

Suggested Citation

  • William B Bonvillian, 2018. "DARPA and its ARPA-E and IARPA clones: a unique innovation organization model," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(5), pages 897-914.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:27:y:2018:i:5:p:897-914.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Watson, Anna, 2022. "Designing publicly funded organisations for accelerated low carbon innovation: A case study of the ETI, UK and ARPA-E, US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    2. Galimkair Mutanov & Zhanar Omirbekova & Aijaz A. Shaikh & Zhansaya Issayeva, 2023. "Sustainability-Driven Green Innovation: Revolutionising Aerospace Decision-Making with an Intelligent Decision Support System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Patrick S. Roberts & Jon Schmid, 2022. "Government‐led innovation acceleration: Case studies of US federal government innovation and technology acceleration organizations," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 39(3), pages 353-378, May.
    4. Kuan, Jennifer & West, Joel, 2023. "Interfaces, modularity and ecosystem emergence: How DARPA modularized the semiconductor ecosystem," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(8).
    5. Goldstein, Anna P. & Kearney, Michael, 2020. "Know when to fold ‘em: An empirical description of risk management in public research funding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    6. Sofia Patsali & Michele Pezzoni & Jackie Krafft, 2023. "Healthcare Procurement and Firm Innovation: Evidence from AI-powered Equipment," GREDEG Working Papers 2023-05, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    7. Matteo Deleidi & Mariana Mazzucato, 2019. "Mission-Oriented Innovation Policies: A Theoretical And Empirical Assessment For The Us Economy," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0248, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    8. Martin Ho & Henry CW Price & Tim S Evans & Eoin O'Sullivan, 2023. "Order in Innovation," Papers 2302.13076, arXiv.org.
    9. Patsali, Sofia, 2024. "University procurement-led innovation: Sources, procedures, and effects. Some field-study evidence," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    10. Sofia Patsali, 2021. "University Procurement-led Innovation," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-13, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L52 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth

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