The new Cia Labs were also created to avoid the flight of talent to Silicon Valley
In an attempt to attract and retain the best technological talent, the CIA announced the formation of Cia Labs, a new branch of the federal body dedicated to research and development, designed to encourage innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, biotechnology, advanced materials and high-performance quantum computing. CIA LABS POSSIBLE PARTNER FOR OTHER 300 FEDERAL LABS
“Cia Labs makes the agency a possible research partner for the more than 300 other federal laboratories and academic experts – underlined The Hill in an article -. The laboratory will also allow CIA officers to obtain patents and licenses for any intellectual property they create while working at the agency ”. AGENTS UP TO 15% MORE
Agents could in fact get a portion of the profits from their inventions leaving the rest to the CIA, according to MIT Technology Review, which first broke the news. In this way, federal agents could earn up to 15% more of their total income for up to $ 150,000 per year. THE RESEARCH AREAS COVERED
The research areas covered by Cia Labs will include artificial intelligence, bioscience, virtual and augmented reality, quantum computing and advanced materials and manufacturing, among others, according to a statement from the US Central intellingence. “Cia Labs conducts research, development, testing and multidisciplinary engineering to address new challenges; adapt, improve or accelerate the production of existing solutions; and solving persistent scientific and technological problems in new ways, ”reads the note again, which also invites other federal laboratories and academic leaders to submit their ideas to work together via an online form. MEYERRIECKS (CIA): WE WANT TO KEEP THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND PROTECT THE NATION
Dawn Meyerriecks, chief of science and technology at the CIA, told Patrick Howell O’Neill of MIT Technology Review that Cia Labs “will help maintain our competitive advantage and protect our nation.” “Some phenomenal innovations have come from the CIA over the years, and with Cia Labs, we are now in a better position to optimize developments and further invest in our scientists and technologists,” added O’Neill.
“The military and intelligence agencies around the world deal with a multitude of sensors such as, for example, the type of technology found on drones – underlined O’Neill -. CIA sensors consume untold mountains of data per second but now they want to develop enormous computing power in a relatively small, low-power sensor, so that sorting can be done quickly on the device instead of being sent back to a central system. “. THE NEW CIA LABS CREATED ALSO FROM THE ESCAPE OF TALENTS TOWARDS THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN THE SILICON VALLEY
But why this idea right now
Axios points out that the new CIA Labs were created “in part to obviate concerns about the flight of talent to the private sector in Silicon Valley”. In any case, nothing particularly new: CIA Labs joins a constellation of entities affiliated with the agency that are dedicated to technological innovation in the service of national security, including the Directorate of Science and Technology of the CIA and In-Q- Tel, the agency’s venture capital firm, which is headquartered in Virginia and Silicon Valley.
