The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is often seen as a role model for promoting technological advances. For decades, it has contributed to military and economic dominance by bridging the gap between military and civilian applications. European policymakers often refer to DARPA in discussions, as outlined in the 2024 Draghi Report, but an EU equivalent is yet to emerge. To create such an agency, the governance and management of European innovation programs would need to be drastically changed.
DARPA supports disruptive innovation
Founded in 1958, DARPA is part of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) with a clear mission: to fund high-risk technology programs that could lead to radical innovation. DARPA provides support throughout the innovation process, focusing on environments where new uses for technology need to be invented or adapted. Although DARPA is part of the Department of Defense, it funds projects that promise technological and economic superiority, whether or not they align with current military priorities. DARPA has supported projects such as ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, and GPS. Today, DARPA is showing interest in autonomous vehicles for urban areas and new rocket technologies.
As part of its core mission, DARPA accepts high financial risks in exploration projects and makes long-term commitments to these projects. Many symbolic achievements explain why DARPA is a reference agency. However, the list of failed projects is even longer. Both failures and successes promote the exploration process in emerging industrial sectors. They represent opportunities to learn together and develop collective strategies in innovation ecosystems.
Five core principles of DARPA
DARPA's success rests not only on its stability, but also on its adherence to five organizing principles that allow it to explore deep tech in an open innovation context:
- Independence: DARPA operates independently of other military services, research and development centers, and federal agencies, allowing it to explore options outside of prevailing research paradigms. While collaboration is possible, their decisions and directions are not influenced by other parts of the federal administration.
- Agility: The agency's flat organizational structure minimizes bureaucracy. Its independent decision-making processes and streamlined contract design enable it to pivot quickly, test new concepts and collaborate with academic or private sector partners. Agility also allows DARPA to test new methods of exploration or experimentation, often based on user-centered approaches. Potential military or civilian end users are involved in innovation projects at a very early stage in order to discuss possible uses and applications. This approach has recently led DARPA to adopt the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), where officers from the various military services (Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines) and all military ranks test new technological solutions (of varying levels of maturity), etc .Promote development processes with military innovators and expand the agency's impact.
- Sponsorship: Senior leaders at the Department of Defense and other federal agencies (NASA, Department of Energy) support DARPA projects, but do not commission them. This sponsorship model increases the potential impact of a project and allows for quick adjustments if a project fails.
- Community Building: DARPA creates innovation communities with a mix of diverse expertise. Bringing together different perspectives promotes collective strategies that are essential for disruptive innovation.
- Diverse leadership: Project managers come from diverse backgrounds, including civilian experts, military officers, and private sector professionals. All have demonstrated scientific and technological expertise as well as a solid ability to connect dreams and vision with reality. Everyone has mastered risk and complexity management perfectly. The managers' tenure is three to four years and is focused on driving technological disruption and building new innovation ecosystems. Their diverse expertise sets DARPA apart from other federal agencies.
The challenge of a European DARPA
The Draghi report on European competitiveness suggests that a European DARPA could help close technological gaps, reduce dependencies and accelerate the green transition. However, implementing this model would require a profound change in the way European agencies work. The creation of a new agency would be ineffective without ensuring that all the principles underlying DARPA's success are implemented in Europe.
Even though Europe actively promotes deep tech and allocates significant budgets for it, the prevailing European public policies and working practices in national and European authorities are hardly consistent with the DARPA model. European agencies do not have much autonomy in their decisions about exploring new ventures or managing human resources. They clearly demonstrate a results-oriented orientation that is inconsistent with DARPA's approach to risk.
Two big challenges
European agencies often lack the stable mission, scope and ambition of DARPA. The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Defense Agency (EDA) and Eurocontrol highlight the difficulties in developing coherent, cross-border innovation ecosystems. A European DARPA would require a unified ambition from all EU member states, which is challenging given the institutional and geopolitical divisions within Europe. The debates surrounding the European Defense Fund illustrate how complex it is to reach consensus on common goals and funding.
Adopting DARPA's five organizing principles would represent a cultural revolution for European agencies in terms of EU bureaucratic norms and individual member states' budgetary controls. Implementing these changes would also disrupt the existing balance of power between countries. The DARPA model contradicts the European “Fair Returns” model, which refers to proportionality rules between funding, research activities and subsequent industrial allocation during the production phase between Member States in each project. The DARPA model would only focus on existing skills, excellence, risk-taking approaches and entrepreneurial mindsets.
The establishment of a European DARPA would require a fundamental rethink in the management of public policy in Europe. Its success would depend on whether European stakeholders are willing to adopt DARPA's core principles, including its independence, agility and willingness to accept failure. Starting an agency is one thing; Another is ensuring that it adheres to the structures that make DARPA effective. The question remains: is Europe ready for this change?
The European Academy of Management (EURAM) is a scientific society founded in 2001. With over 2,000 members from 60 countries in Europe and beyond, EURAM aims to advance the academic discipline of management in Europe.
David W. Versailles, Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation Management, Co-Director of the newPIC Chair of the PSB, PSB Paris School of Business and Valérie Mérindol, Research Professor of Innovation and Creativity Management, PSB Paris School of Business
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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