Pentagon dives into advanced wearables with Apple, Harvard and others

The Pentagon wants to use wearables for more than just tracking steps. It's pouring $75 million over the next five years into the FlexTech Alliance -- a group made of 162 separate organizations, including Apple, Boeing and Harvard -- to create a "Manufacturing Innovation Institute for Flexible Hybrid Electronics." That may sound like a mouthful, but basically it will explore new ways soldiers can use advanced wearable tech. The findings could even make their way to military ships and aircrafts to monitor their structural integrity in realtime, Reuters reports. Additional funding from other companies and local governments will bring the total investment of the project up to $171 million. "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," US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a statement today. "Now we're taking another step forward."

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