REPORT / 2026-01
Accelerating Technological Innovation Across the U.S. Wildfire Management System
Researchers combined a literature review with stakeholder interviews to assess how wildfire technology innovations move from idea to field use and to identify when and how innovation stalls. The team traced the system of federal, state, local, tribal, nonprofit, and private actors to locate choke points throughout the innovation pipeline. In parallel, the researchers studied models from four government-led innovation organizations — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, the Defense Innovation Unit, and In-Q-Tel — to identify transferable practices to accelerate innovation.
Authors & Organizations
- Patrick Roberts (RAND)
- Jay Balagna (RAND)
- Aaron Clark-Ginsberg (RAND)
- Izabella Martinez (RAND)
- Jon Schmid (RAND)