David Perkins

ICAP Mentor
David Perkins is a technologist, innovator, and startup mentor with more than 20 years of experience in technology strategy and development across government, industry, and academic sectors.
Industry
DefenseTech, UAS, and ISR
Expertise
Systems Engineering and Business Development

Biography

David is a technologist, innovator, and startup mentor with more than 20 years of experience in technology strategy and development across government, industry, and academic sectors. As a result, he developed a comprehensive view of technical and organizational challenges in commercialization and adoption of emerging technologies. David has a passion for entrepreneurship and enjoys working with early stage startups, researchers, and those on roads less-traveled to validate customer needs, value propositions, and go-to-market strategies.

David spent the early part of his career serving the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense as a systems engineer, project manager, and technology strategist on global Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance programs before venturing into research commercialization startups. David co-founded three federally funded research startups, taking two teams through National Science Foundation’s I-CORPS, working to validate business models utilizing small Unmanned Aerial Systems and advanced computer vision techniques in civil engineering, humanitarian, agricultural, and law enforcement applications. He helped launch ICAP and has since mentored hundreds of early stage startups through it and a variety of regional entrepreneurial support programs and organizations including DoD’s FedTech, George Washington University’s International I-CORPS, 757 CoLabs, RISE Coastal Community Challenge, and Old Dominion University’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

David is currently freelancing, mentoring startups, and exploring the evolution of technology, economics, sociology, and political philosophy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from George Mason University and a Master of Science in Technical Management from Johns Hopkins University.