The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce applauds the U.S. Department of Defense for selecting Spark Cognition, an Austin based company, for its first military contract with the United States Air Force. The contract made possible through the Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), an entity of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), focuses on accelerating commercial technologies by providing non-dilutive capital to solve national defense issues.

"Austin innovators have a lot to offer our nation's defense," said Drew Scheberle, Senior Vice President of Advocacy for the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. "We believe the DIUx investment in Spark Cognition will be the first of a series of non-dilutive investments for small Austin-based and high growth companies that aids our country's efforts to grow jobs in Texas."

The announcement comes after community leaders and the Greater Austin Chamber, met with congressional lawmakers in Washington D.C. to advocate for the Central Texas region. Led by Dell's Director of Government Affairs and Policy John Howard, the group met at the Pentagon to encourage them to strengthen the DoD’s presence in Austin and to discuss ways the Congressional delegation can support its success.

The group asked federal lawmakers to allocate at least $90 million in the 2018 fiscal year funding for Austin’s technology innovation site. Currently, the U.S. House has proposed a $15 million appropriation in the coming budget and the U.S. Senate has proposed a $45 million appropriation.

For the past year, the Austin Chamber has worked hard to support the Central Texas Congressional delegation and their efforts to create a permanent home for a DIUx site in Austin. Led by former Chairman Tony Budet, the Austin Chamber visited the Pentagon in 2016 to encourage the presence of a DIUx site similar to Silicon Valley and Boston. In September 2016, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the opening of an Austin DIUx office at the Capital Factory.

Presently, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has testified before Congress about his strong support for DIUx and visited the DIUx headquarters in Silicon Valley.

We appreciate the efforts of our entire nine-member delegation including budget appropriator U.S. Congressman John Carter and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Michael McCaul. As the two Chambers go to conference, we encourage both of them to make an appropriation closer to the Senate figure.

View the Greater Austin Chamber’s public policy priorities here.