Pentagon to invest $75M in wearable tech

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is set to announce a new wearables venture backed by the Pentagon, private companies, local governments and research institutions.
Carter will make the announcement Friday in Silicon Valley, the Associated Press reports.
“I’ve been pushing the Pentagon to think outside our five-sided box, and invest in innovation here in Silicon Valley and in tech communities across the country,” Carter is set to say, according to speech excerpts. “And now we’re taking another step forward.”

Under the plan, the Pentagon will provide $75 million and industry, academia and local government will contribute $96 million over five years to a newly created high-tech innovation institute.
The consortium, called the Flexible Hybrid Electronic Institute, will be led by California-based FlexTech Alliance and be made up of 162 companies, universities and other groups.