Washington, D.C. — Today, Senators Ted Budd (R-NC) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), as well as members of the North Carolina congressional delegation, sent a bipartisan letter to the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) at the Pentagon to “express our support for North Carolina to host a DIU OnRamp Hub to streamline how our state’s companies, academic institutions, and entrepreneurs access government programming and funding to better support warfighters.”
The letter is co-signed by Reps. Deborah Ross, Richard Hudson, Virginia Foxx, Greg Murphy, Don Davis, Patrick McHenry, Alma Adams, Kathy Manning, David Rouzer, Wiley Nickel, and Chuck Edwards.
We write in support of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) efforts to strengthen its integration with the North Carolina defense innovation ecosystem. Specifically, we write to express our support for North Carolina to host a DIU OnRamp Hub to streamline how our state’s companies, academic institutions, and entrepreneurs access government programming and funding to better support warfighters.
As our April 2023 North Carolina delegation letter stated, North Carolina possesses strengths and capabilities contributing to a state-wide defense innovation ecosystem, including defense-related research at our top-notch academic institutions and our culture of collaboration making it a prime location for future DIU engagement.
We are grateful for DIU’s current integration within the North Carolina innovation ecosystem, to include a National Security Innovation Network regional presence, partnerships with North Carolina small businesses, and awards for project prototypes to support unmanned aerial system projects and communication technologies. We also understand DIU has participated in events across North Carolina, including the DIU Regional Roadshow and Federal Technology Symposium.
As you know, DIU has five OnRamp Hubs in Arizona, Ohio, Hawaii, Kansas and Washington State, and forthcoming locations in Kentucky and Montana. With this in mind, we urge you to consider establishing an OnRamp Hub in North Carolina during the next round of expansions to further strengthen the relationship between the Department of Defense and North Carolina’s defense innovation ecosystem.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter and we look forward to your response.
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