DARPA: the Differentiator
today the U.S. is facing many internal and external challenges. Internally, productivity growth rate has slowed down significantly in the past 15 years; externally, rising powers, such as China and Russia, are challenging American hegemony. In this article we argue that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the differentiator that enables the U.S. prevail against these challenges. In the past 60 years DARPA has been the core engine for the development of breakthrough technologies. We examine how DARPA has continuously delivered breakthrough technologies to drive economic growth, and the impacts of DARPA technologies on the U.S. economy. Also, by comparing DARPA’s performance against some of the world’s leading technology venture capital firms, and other DARPA-like agencies around the world, we conclude that DARPA is the differentiator that guarantees American hegemony in this era.