Mountain View, Calif. (Dec. 17, 2024) – The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and Japan’s Defense Innovation Science and Technology Institute (DISTI), the newly formed defense innovation organization of the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA), have launched the U.S.-Japan Global Innovation Challenge to seek technologies to counter biological threats and to counter the spread of disinformation.
The joint challenge follows the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) for Defense Innovation Cooperation between ATLA Director General Kyosuke Matsumoto and DIU Director Doug Beck on Sept. 9, 2024.
The partnership allows DIU and ATLA to explore joint project opportunities and promote the integration of commercial technologies at speed and scale into defense systems for operational demands in the Indo-Pacific. The effort also begins to deepen bilateral cooperation between the U.S. and Japan’s growing defense commercial bases.
“I’m incredibly excited about our partnership with the Japanese, their standup of DISTI, and about the first example of our concrete collaboration together. The Japanese are simultaneously one of our most critical allies in the region and the world, and one of the most able partners in the technology sector,” said DIU Director Doug Beck. “Our coordination and cooperation in our shared strategic imperative for a free and open Indo-Pacific is critical to our success.”
The inaugural U.S.-Japan Global Innovation Challenge will feature two technology focus areas for innovators to submit solutions: The first topic seeks systems to detect and diagnose biological threats. The second seeks generative artificial intelligence (AI) innovations to judge information accurately for disinformation countermeasures, fact-checking algorithms, and market analysis to enhance information integrity.
Participants in the challenges will develop, demonstrate, and have an opportunity to be awarded part of a total $300,000 USD prize pool.