Episode 70: Innovating How We Innovate

There are many ideas in the world, but truly good ones are few and far between – especially when it comes to breakthrough technologies that can change the course of history. Surfacing these types of ideas calls for a constant infusion of fresh perspectives and imagination.That’s why DARPA created the DARPA Innovation Fellowship (https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/darpa-innovation-fellowship), a two-year position for early career scientists and engineers. Fellows push the limits of existing technology by exploring new ideas for answering high-risk, high-reward “what if?” questions in the realm of national security.In this episode of the Voices from DARPA podcast series, we hear from Dr. Jinendra Ranka, director of DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office (https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/offices/dso) (DSO) – which oversees the Innovation Fellowship Program – about how the program offers unique opportunities for Fellows to make connections, demonstrate what’s possible and take risks. We also speak with four Fellows from the program’s first cohort – Dr. Rebecca Chmiel, Lieutenant Krishnan (Krish) Rajagopalan, Dr. Allegra A. Beal Cohen and Dr. Alex Place – for their perspectives on what it takes to develop high-impact, exploratory technology efforts for the Department of Defense.Current DARPA Innovation Fellows (https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/darpa-innovation-fellows)Advanced Research Concepts (https://www.darpa.mil/ARC)