Spring is in the air, but before we bid adieu to winter we want to highlight some exciting developments at IQT that happened this past quarter. CEO Steve Bowsher sat down with The Washington Times to discuss the company's evolution and trajectory; we made some exciting new investments in cutting-edge space, AI, and sensing capabilities; and we published content exploring topics including AI, maritime, and critical mineral supply chain security. Want to catch up on all the latest updates from IQT? See below.

Welcome to the IQT Portfolio

• Atomionics: Portable device used to obtain measurements of gravity for surveys of underground geological features in an area.
• Dropzone AI: AI platform designed to autonomously investigate 100% of high-volume, low-complexity security alerts.
• Starfish Space: Orbital transportation infrastructure for in-space transportation and maintenance service.
• Armada: Full-stack modular data center service that includes configurable compute hardware, satellite connectivity orchestration, and a marketplace of first- and third-party applications to bring high-performance computing to the remote edge.
• Kurs Orbital: Modern docking-and-rendezvous system based on the legacy 'Kurs' system.
• Kry10: An innovative platform to help businesses realize the full potential of IoT and high-value connected devices.
• Tierra: Offering unparalleled access to innovative engineered proteins.

News

• Inside In-Q-Tel: How the CIA is Tapping Private Sector Ingenuity That's Reshaping the World: The Washington Times sat down with CEO Steve Bowsher to discuss IQT's mission, the reason for our global expansion, and portfolio company success stories that have had world-shaping impact.
• Protect AI Recognized for its ML Security Operations Platform at IQT & Silicon Valley Bank Discovery Event: Now in its 11th year, this annual gathering offers startups the opportunity to pitch their technology to intelligence and defense community representatives, as well as to investors and executives. Out of the 10 cutting-edge companies that participated, Protect AI was selected for special recognition due to its valuable contributions to advancing the field of AI security.

IQT Blogs & Podcasts

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• The Intersection: When Venture Meets Mission: Why do students with entrepreneurial zeal steer away from working on issues related to national defense? How can we build a better bridge between Washington and Silicon Valley? These questions and more are answered in this gripping episode featuring Steve Bowsher and Arun Gupta, CEO of NobleReach Foundation.
• IQT Explains: Accelerating VC Activity in Maritime Innovation: In the first part of our three-part maritime series, our guests dive into topics relating to the maritime tech and investment landscapes and share their predictions for what's next.
• IQT Explains: Maritime Innovation in the : In the second part of our three-part maritime series, our colleagues explore IQT's involvement in the maritime domain, the challenges of AI algorithm data collection, and the spillover benefits of aerial drone innovation.
• IQT Explains: Undersea Innovation: Check out the final part of our series on maritime and undersea technology! Tune in to learn about the complexities of undersea technology and its significance in military, commercial, and scientific realms. The episode highlights challenges that are unique to underwater innovation like the lack of GPS functionality and the need to adapt to a highly pressurized and corrosive environment.
• IQT Explains: Challenges & Opportunities in Critical Mineral Supply Chain Security: Join our guests as they delve into the world of critical minerals and the challenges facing the United States' supply chain security. From developing biological solutions for rare earth element separation to utilizing autonomous underwater vehicles for critical mineral extraction, our guests for today's episode are at the forefront of technology and environmental stewardship.
• IQT Quarterly Recap Blog — Fall 2023: The change in seasons ushered in many exciting developments. Steve Bowsher was appointed CEO after 17 years with IQT and we announced the opening of our Singapore office; we added exciting new companies to our portfolio to address issues like producing cleaner batteries and transforming cyber operations; and we published content exploring major tech trends from AI to biotechnology.
• Data Overload: Generative AI Can Help Make Sense of the Data Tsunami to Keep Systems Secure: This final blog from our GenAI in Cyber series explores three ways that generative AI can turbocharge defensive tools by simplifying the analysis of large volumes of textual data.

IQT National Innovation Policy

• House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Hearing "Growing Stakes: The Bioeconomy and American National Security": In this testimony, Dr. Tara O'Toole addresses the economic and technological importance of the "biorevolution" now underway; China's determination to dominate biotechnologies and its strategy to achieve this; the nature, advantages, and vulnerabilities of America's ecosystem for biotechnological innovation; and suggestions for how the federal government might strengthen U.S. competitiveness in biotechnology and build a bioeconomy capable of competing with China's ambitions.
• Leading Under the Seas: Spurring Innovation in Undersea Enabling Technologies: From global communication channels to raw materials for pharmaceuticals, we rely on the world's oceans for resources that shape our way of life — but we've still only scratched the surface. With the vast majority of the seas unexplored, we have much to gain by increasing the rate of research, funding, and innovation in this domain.
• IQT Roundtable on the Artificial Intelligence Executive Order: IQT held a roundtable discussing the implications of President Biden's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. The full impact of this Executive Order has yet to be seen, but concerns have already been raised about how these regulations may slow the development of U.S. AI innovation and disproportionately encumber small-to-medium-sized businesses who do not possess the resources to comply with the regulations put in place. Read about these and other key takeaways from this roundtable discussion.
• China Has a Choke Hold on Critical Minerals. Breaking It Will Take New Thinking.: Our critical mineral dependency on China is both well-documented and notoriously complicated to untangle. In her latest opinion piece, Dr. Sarah Sewall contends that success in achieving critical mineral independence will require a broad range of coordinated efforts, including a concerted investment in U.S. commercial innovation.
• Digital Watermarks Are Not Ready for Large Language Models (LLM): Following major developments in GenAI and LLM capabilities, ensuring safety is at the front of everyone's mind. A critical part of achieving this is establishing the ability to differentiate whether text was written by a model or by a human being. While a plethora of LLM vendors have promoted the idea of embedding digital watermarks into LLM-generated content, this Approach still faces plenty of challenges, as IQT senior fellows Bob Gleichauf and Dan Geer point out in this article.

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