Defense Secretary Carter visits MIT for innovation discussion
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter visited MIT on Wednesday, engaging with Institute President L. Rafael Reif and faculty in a roundtable discussion about cutting-edge innovation in industries such as biotechnology, health care, and energy. “I want to make sure we maintain and strengthen our bridges” to MIT, Carter said in his remarks at the event, while emphasizing the value of the “diversified ecosystem” of innovation around Kendall Square and Massachusetts generally. A primary focus of the event was the need to encourage high-tech innovation in not only software but hardware — that is, tangible, physical products, which are often developed more slowly than software products, and for which, as a consequence, critical funding is often in short supply. “Both are important,” said Reif, referring to software and hardware in his own remarks during the discussion. But on the hardware side, he added, “it often takes 10-plus years” to bring an idea from...