TL/DR
- As Conduit looks towards the future, we're always aiming to ensure our expertise and differentiated value as a 'operator lead hard-tech innovation platform' (Venture Studio, Fund and Scalar) is pointed towards global scale innovation imperatives that focus on "real-word" applications of machine intelligence!
- The amount of "idle" academic, private and government research / IP is at an all time high... and these breakout 'catalysts' are in desperate need of translating and scaling to real-world industries...
- The challenges of the future of defense and security look strikingly similar to the toughest problems in healthcare, energy, manufacturing, and agriculture. They all require the same toolkit: machine intelligence married to hard‑tech.
- Immense Gravity - with global expenditure on defense and security rising dramatically, this is the BEST time to be founders, builder, researcher or scientist working on BIG and HARD problems.
- Investors and allocators looking to diversify beyond the seemingly commoditized "Easy-Tech" investments (i.e. digital AI, SaaS, etc..), this is the BEST time to be investing into Physical + AI!
Hard‑Tech’s Moment – Why Record Defense Budgets Demand Dual‑Use Builders
Global defense spending just crossed $2 trillion and is climbing at the fastest rate in decades. Behind the headlines is a simple truth: the toughest problems facing security forces— from secure supply chains to spatial intelligence— look strikingly similar to the toughest problems in healthcare, energy, manufacturing, and agriculture. They all require the same toolkit: machine intelligence married to hard‑tech.
Those of us at and that support Conduit Venture Labs have spent our careers translating breakthrough research into commercial, medical, and consumer products. That experience matters today more than ever. As our name suggests… we aim to act as a conduit between academic & military labs and real‑world operators, accelerating dual‑use pathways for:
- AI & advanced ML** that fuse multi‑modal data for split‑second decisions.
- Robotics & autonomous systems** built to survive harsh battlefields and factory floors.
- Next‑gen sensors & edge compute** that safeguard warfighters while unlocking new industrial insight.
Our hard-tech venture platform pairs deep technical diligence with repeatable product and go‑to‑market playbooks. The result: an innovation engine who can serve a defense customer on Monday and a Fortune‑500 on Tuesday— without compromising speed or scale of innovation.
For investors, this dual‑use approach is more than portfolio diversification. It is a force‑multiplier:
- Bigger TAMs, faster revenue – Programs of record meet massive commercial markets.
- Technology de‑risking – Government validation hardens products for civilian life.
- Capital efficiency – Non‑dilutive funding and early procurement accelerate milestones.
Record budgets confirm that security and resilience will define the next decade. Conduit stands ready— with the networks, playbooks, and hard‑tech DNA—to transform rising defense demand into scalable, cross‑industry solutions.
If you’re an academic / private research lab, an investor or a founder looking to back teams at the intersection of machine intelligence and physical technology, let’s talk about building the next generation of dual‑use champions— together.
🚀 Lets Build! -- Amish Patel, Conduit
#DualUse, #HardTech, #DefenseTech, #DeepTech, #VentureCapital
