BAE Systems' U.S.-based organization last year restructured and renamed its research and development arm, now known as FAST Labs and meant to quickly generate innovative technology that can be transferred to the company's business units.
FAST Labs' reworking comes as many contractors are seeking new ways to find innovative technology, both within and outside their own companies.
In an interview with Inside Defense last week, Francesca Scire-Scappuzzo, senior director of advanced technology and innovation at BAE, said the unit operates as an "independent profit-and-loss business within our enterprise."
FAST Labs primarily conducts research through government contracts it receives. However, it also does some independent research and development, she said.
As part of last year's restructuring, the organization, which has more than 800 employees, now includes a portfolio technology strategy team and a technology scouting team.
The portfolio technology team identifies key technologies, while the scouting team seeks to find universities, startups and other potential providers of technologies that can be incorporated into BAE products.
However, FAST Labs does not have a venture capital arm, even though other contractors, including Lockheed Martin, have revitalized their VC organizations.
BAE's decision to go without is "a very deliberate choice," according to Scire-Scappuzzo.
"The old centralized corporate defense model was about ownership of the [intellectual property]," she said. "The moment you own the IP, you're taking the IP from everybody else."
She said BAE is partnering with startups without limiting them from working with others.
"The fact that we openly clarify our model to startups -- it makes the startups really want to work with us," she said. "There's always been a fear of working with a larger corporation . . . that tends to take ownership of the IP."
Scire-Scappuzzo said FAST Labs measures success as "technology transfer to the business areas."
"We really work with the business areas to try to address every business area's problems or gaps or needs," she said. "They know that they can come to us."