Innovation in the federal government

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Everybody wants slow-moving federal IT to take advantage of rapidly changing new technology. Unlike the commercial sector, govies have security and acquisition constraints. The solution proffered by our guests — an accelerator based in Washington, D.C., that helps both the commercial sector reach federal candidates and assisting federal leaders to learn about new technology.

Meagan Metzger is the founder and CEO while Nate Ashton is the director of Accelerator Programs at Dcode. They joined host John Gilroy on this week’s Federal Tech Talk to discuss innovation and the federal government.

From the company perspective, Dcode puts together cohorts of companies focused on a specific area. For example, five popular categories are space, health IT, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. The idea is to get a small group involved for three months. After being “coached up,” they can have a better chance at serving the federal information technology market.

From the federal perspective, Dcode helps technology folks try to make sense of the wide variety of products and services being offered. It is a full-time job just trying to learn about the plethora of new technology being offered today. Beyond that, if an agency selects a product that can help, how do they move forward and bring new tech into the government successfully.

Dcode has had some success in this endeavor. They have assisted 70 tech companies and dozens of government organizations. Further, Dcode has driven 52 implementations of new tech solutions and over $65 million in government contracts.

Perhaps this is the model for a public-private partnership.

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