Abstract: “Valley of Death” refers to the huge gap between invention and innovation. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has contributed Internet, Stealth Airplanes, GPS, etc. to the world since it managed to bridge the gap again and again within its more than 50-year history. In light of industry development, bridging the gap needs physical capital, intellectual capital, and social capital, and spans the critical steps like technology fostering and technology transfer. DARPA bridges the “Valley of Death” by taking advantages of its unique political position, abundant capital, and far-sighted strategic thoughts, relying on coordination among the excellent program managers, office managers, and Director, and the total “DARPA Community” fostered by DARPA over years. In recent years, DARPA has adopted a series of new measures like “crowd-sourcing” to shorten the spanning time. In the end, the paper summarizes the keys to DARPA's success.

摘要： “死亡之谷”是发明到产品之间的鸿沟，“美国高级研究计划局”（DARPA）在短短50多年时间里，为世界带来了互联网、GPS等技术与产品，常常成功跨越鸿沟。从产业发展角度，跨越“死亡之谷”需要物质、智力和社会等三种资本，还要跨越技术培育和转移各个关键阶段。DARPA利用其独特的政治地位、雄厚的资金和有远见的战略思想，依靠优秀项目官员、办公室主任和局长的协同合作，以及长年培育的“DARPA社区”，一次次成功跨越“死亡之谷”。近年，DARPA为缩短跨越“死亡之谷”的时间，还采取了“众包”等一系列新举措，最后总结了DARPA成功跨越“死亡之谷”的关键。

关键词: 美国国防高级研究计划局, 死亡之谷, 技术培育, 技术转移, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Valley of Death, Technology Fostering, Technology Transfer