DARPA is already very willing to fund work outside of academia. Every meeting I’ve been to has included consortia led by a big company like HRL Labs or Teledyne

DARPA is already very willing to fund work outside of academia. Every meeting I’ve been to has included consortia led by a big company like HRL Labs or Teledyne as well as smaller companies, sometimes even 1-2 person shops, that work in the particular field. The overhead rates at those big companies are massive though.