An introduction by:

George Lund
Chairman, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors
Torch Hill Investment Partners, Atlantic Council

A presentation by:

Maryam Haque
Vice President of Research
National Venture Capital Association

A conversation with:

Thomas d’Halluin
Chief Executive Officer
US Venture Investments
Airbus

Brett Lambert
Vice President
Corporate Strategy
Northrop Grumman

Chris Moran
Executive Director and General Manager,
Lockheed Martin Ventures
Lockheed Martin

Pete Roney
Vice President, Innovation & Technology
Thales USA;
Managing Director
Thales xPlor

Moderated by:

Steven Grundman
M.A. and George Lund Fellow
Atlantic Council

On Wednesday, November 9, from 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m., the Atlantic Council hosted the Captains of Industry Series, a discussion about how leading companies in the aerospace sector are engaging entrepreneurs and seeding the development of new technologies to achieve growth and innovation. While the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Initiative and outreach to Silicon Valley are focusing attention on nascent companies and commercial entrants, established firms in the sector are hardly standing aside from the opportunities and imperatives of leveraging the dynamism of entrepreneurship.

Four of the biggest names in aerospace and defense—Airbus Group, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Thales Group—was represented on the panel. Each panelist addressed the role that corporate-venture investing plays in his company, the challenge of employing techniques used to incubate nascent companies in a mature-stage industry, and the impact these initiatives aim to achieve.

The Atlantic Council Captains of Industry Series is a platform for senior executives in aerospace and defense to address the public interests their companies serve and the public policies that shape these markets. By engaging the perspective of business leaders about issues at the interface of defense ministries and industries, the series is cultivating a constituency for practical solutions to these problems.

The event was live tweeted on Twitter @ACScowcroft with the hashtag #ACDefense

Atlantic Council
1030 15th Street NW, 12th Floor (West Tower Elevator)
Washington, DC

To get a copy of the presentation slides by Maryam Haque of the National Venture Capital Association, please email Westley Tsou at wtsou@atlanticcouncil.org