Rising Know-how Horizons: Concern Grows for Excessive Tech’s Provide Chains
12/14/2021
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As COVID-19 and the following financial challenges have uncovered, the US faces substantial provide chain vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Practically each sector has been affected and there’s no finish in sight. Nonetheless, the pandemic isn’t the one factor responsible for the disruptions. Winter storms, misguided authorities insurance policies, poor planning, an earthquake, a hearth — the record appears never-ending.
The protection implications of the disruptions are significantly bleak. Nonetheless, the vulnerabilities are nothing new and efforts to handle them return a number of years. One such instance was Govt Order 13806 which then-President Donald Trump signed in 2017 directing a whole-of-government effort to evaluate danger, determine impacts and suggest suggestions in help of a wholesome manufacturing and protection industrial base and its provide chains.
In response, the Protection Division printed an unclassified report in September 2018 which not solely recognized the dangers to the protection industrial base but additionally supplied actionable suggestions to reduce them. The present administration has continued to give attention to securing America’s provide chains. In February, President Joe Biden signed Govt Order 14017 launching two extra opinions of America’s provide chains — one for 100 days, and one other for one 12 months.
Actions to handle vulnerabilities should not restricted to the manager department. Earlier this 12 months, the Home Armed Providers Committee launched a bipartisan Protection Important Provide Chain Process Drive and subsequently printed a report outlining key findings. A number of non-profits have additionally contributed to the hassle together with the Hudson Institute’s Hamilton Fee on Securing America’s Nationwide Safety Innovation Base and the Reagan Institute’s Process Drive on Nationwide Safety and U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness.
Some could take a look at the numerous process forces and opinions and see duplication of effort on a crowded enjoying discipline. Maybe one other perspective is recognizing that competitors is nice, and the plethora of efforts is indicative of the difficulty’s significance. One space that has acquired much less consideration, nevertheless, are the nascent provide chains that can help rising applied sciences as outlined within the 2018 Nationwide Protection Technique.
As such, the Nationwide Protection Industrial Affiliation’s new nonpartisan assume tank, the Rising Applied sciences Institute, is launching an in-depth analysis research centered particularly on protection rising applied sciences provide chains. The forward-focused research will assess the state of these provide chains and supply coverage suggestions to advance their improvement, well being and resilience.
To attain this objective, ETI and NDIA will carry collectively stakeholders from trade — each conventional industrial base members and newcomers crucial to those new applied sciences — authorities and academia to ship public stories on key findings, detailed assessments of present rising applied sciences provide chains, and coverage suggestions to authorities and the non-public sector. The research will tackle essentially the most urgent questions whereas constructing off present analysis and analyses.
The research will give attention to 4 key rising applied sciences corresponding to hypersonics, directed power, biotechnology — particularly, biologically-derived manufacturing — and quantum sensing. These 4 had been chosen as a result of they symbolize the total spectrum, from very nascent provide chains — corresponding to quantum sensing and sure biotechnologies — to much less nascent and extra established ones corresponding to hypersonics and directed power.
And each is crucial to protection modernization. As ETI examines every of the applied sciences, it will likely be by means of 4 completely different lenses, or items of the availability chain: crucial uncooked supplies and items; manufacturing base and workforce; provide chain safety, redundancies and vulnerabilities; and worldwide partnerships, allied near-shoring and home on-shoring.
For years, the US has been a beacon of innovation and a pacesetter in rising applied sciences. Nonetheless, programs are evolving on the most speedy tempo in trendy historical past, and the nation must adapt to safe our future success. To take care of and develop our aggressive edge, the US should not solely win the race but additionally preserve safe and resilient provide chains for every know-how.
Those that are concerned about collaborating on this research could attain out to ETI Rising Applied sciences Provide Chain Research Chair Rebecca Wostenberg at rwostenberg@ndia.org, and NDIA Technique Affiliate Jacob Winn at jwinn@ndia.org. ETI additionally welcomes all questions, feedback and solutions relating to the duty pressure.
Rebecca Wostenberg is a analysis fellow at NDIA’s Rising Applied sciences Institute.
Matters: Rising Applied sciences