Stanford remains Silicon Valley’s singular institution—the root of its vibrancy and hegemony. And because of Stanford Research Park, whose original tenants included Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors, it’s also a physical reminder of the huge role defense played in the early life of the Valley. Even though the industry around it has moved on to smartphones and social networks, a popular course at the university has made Stanford’s defense connection current again.
In Hacking for Defense, students spend the semester in teams and are challenged to build tech products that address actual problems submitted by defense and intelligence agency sponsors. Started in 2016 by historian and entrepreneur Steve Blank, the class turned into a federally sponsored program the following year, funded by the National Defense Authorization Act. You can now find Hacking for Defense classes following the Stanford model at 55 U.S. universities. As of last spring, 2000 students had taken…
Read More…
Source : fastcompany.com
Source link
