A letter from SVDG’s Executive Director
SVDG for 2026
As 2025 winds to a close, recent community momentum excites me for 2026. This was a year of real change. A whole-of-government approach to defense acquisition reform is prioritizing outcomes over business as usual. Yes, we have seen past reform efforts. However, our community should be optimistic this time around. The stage is set for innovation adoption. Emerging defense technology companies have matured, later stage pools of capital required for production are engaging our ecosystem, and bipartisan groups of policy makers are pushing reform.
As our emerging defense technology ecosystem transitions to the next natural phase of evolution, e.g. innovation adoption, SVDG stands ready to act as a bold platform for community leadership.
I was on the road a fair bit as the year wound to a close. The Reagan National Defense Forum, multiple defense technology forums in California and Wall Street hosted by large international financial institutions, the Navy RCO roll out, DON CIO acquisition bootcamp, and more. Many of these events weren’t happening even a year ago. My conclusions - The appetite for progress is real, reforms long advocated for by SVDG are actually happening, and the right founders, funders, and policy makers are rowing together in the same direction. We arguably face a once in a generation opportunity to make a step change in our collective ability to ensure deterrence in the global great power competition for techno-military edge.
But change is not externally limited to SVDG. Internally, SVDG has brought on new staff, and more importantly, new and invaluable members to our Industry Council. Marquee SVDG programming will expand significantly in 2026. You are helping us scale our team, convening authority, and impact. And I am immeasurably grateful for your contributions.
Following the Reagan National Defense Forum earlier this month, SVDG convened senior leaders from the investor, founder, and policy communities for SVDG’s Annual Chairman’s Dinner. We were honored to welcome elected SASC and HASC leaders, DoW Assistant Secretaries, Venture GPs and senior Banking executives, founders and CEOs, and more. Our dinner reflected the culmination of months of engagement, advocacy, and education—through visible efforts like the NatSec100 and the steady, behind-the-scenes work that drives impact. In opening remarks, I challenged our community to lean in on the SVDG network and community, particularly as we wrestle with the speed of change. I also laid out SVDG’s vision for 2026:
Be a bold platform for ecosystem leadership
Make defense tech go mainstream. Augment the focus of our ecosystem from innovation incubation to include innovation adoption. To do so, engage later stage pools of capital to facilitate production at scale.
Enable coordination, engagement, and cross pollination between American and allied partner nation defense innovation and investment ecosystems.
Looking to 2026, SVDG will remain grounded in what is actually working—and what is not. We will continue to elevate founders moving from pilot to production, investors underwriting real execution risk, and policymakers willing to confront where reforms fall short. Where progress is real, we will celebrate it. Where it is not, we will say so plainly and work collaboratively to move forward.
Driving adoption at scale requires tighter synergy between government, industry, and capital. In the year ahead, we will engage new actors, expand sources of capital across Main Street and Wall Street, and deepen our work with Allied ecosystems to unlock multilateral growth.
Thank you for being part of this community and for your continued commitment to SVDG.
Wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season.
Mike Keating - SVDG Executive Director
