America Needs More Than Ideas, It Needs the Capacity to Build Them

By Rob Carpenter

Managing Director, Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Kansas

At the OnRamp Hub: Kansas, we often say innovation is only as powerful as our ability to bring it to life. In today’s world, great ideas are everywhere; startups with bold visions, researchers with groundbreaking concepts, and entrepreneurs chasing the next “big thing.” But America’s national security doesn’t just need ideas, it needs the capacity to build them. Ideas alone won’t win tomorrow’s battles or secure our nation’s prosperity. What makes the difference is the infrastructure, manufacturing expertise, and skilled workforce to transform those ideas into real, deployable solutions.

For too long, our innovation narrative has been dominated by software startups and digital-first ventures. While software will always play a critical role, the challenges of war are fundamentally physical: aircraft, satellites, secure communications, advanced materials, and energy systems. Each requires factories, supply chains, testing facilities, and production lines that can deliver at scale and with reliability. Kansas is uniquely positioned here - with our legacy in aerospace manufacturing, advanced composites, and a growing industrial base, we demonstrate what it means to pair world-class ideas with world-class capacity. That capacity isn’t just a convenience; it’s a strategic imperative.

In conflicts playing out right now, we’re seeing in real time that ideas alone don’t win wars - production does. In Ukraine, the sheer volume of drones, artillery shells, and armored equipment being consumed has exposed a hard truth: the nations that can manufacture at scale are the ones that endure. At the same time, China is demonstrating the strategic advantage of mass production in sectors like electric vehicles, batteries, and emerging technologies that will define both economic and military power.

What sets Kansas apart is not just its history in manufacturing, but its forward-looking investment in growth. Across the state, multiple industrial and manufacturing parks are ready to support new and expanding businesses with modern facilities, access to infrastructure, and connections to robust supply chains. Logistics Park Kansas City in Edgerton is a premier inland port designed for high-volume logistics and advanced manufacturing. The Great Plains Industrial Park in Parsons, one of the largest in the nation, offers thousands of acres for defense and industrial development. South of Wichita, the aerospace capital of the World, growing clusters of advanced manufacturing and innovation districts tie directly into existing global supply chains. Together, these parks give businesses the ability to move from concept to production at speed and scale.

The Kansas Department of Commerce has further amplified this advantage with targeted incentive programs designed to attract and grow businesses critical to national security. Tools like the Promoting Employment Across Kansas (PEAK) program, High Performance Incentive Program (HPIP), and other site-specific grants and tax benefits reduce barriers to entry for companies choosing Kansas. These incentives not only strengthen the local economy but also align directly with the Department of War priorities by ensuring critical industries have the resources and flexibility they need to scale quickly.

Of course, infrastructure and facilities are meaningless without the people to run them. Engineers, machinists, welders, technicians, and operators are the unsung heroes of defense innovation. Every piece of advanced equipment or material begins with a skilled professional translating design into reality. That’s why Kansas invests in workforce development as much as innovation itself. From Wichita State University to our technical colleges and apprenticeship programs, we are creating pathways for the next generation of builders, ensuring the Department of War and industry alike can count on the talent pipeline they need.

If we want to outpace adversaries, the United States must double down not just on invention, but on capacity. That means strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities, investing in workforce training and retention, expanding physical infrastructure that supports prototyping, testing, and production, and building partnerships that bridge small business innovation with large-scale industrial strength. This is where the OnRamp Hub: Kansas leads by bringing together warfighters, local industry, and academic institutions to ensure that when innovation happens, America has the capacity to deliver.

The stakes could not be higher. In national security, speed, scale, and reliability save lives. Ideas spark change, but without the ability to build, they remain abstractions. Kansas understands this truth. Our role is to be a model for the nation: a place where bold concepts become prototypes, prototypes become production lines, and production sustains the readiness of our warfighters. America doesn’t just need ideas, it needs welders, engineers, machinists, and operators. It needs hangars and factories. It needs the hard-earned expertise of those who build. At the OnRamp Hub: Kansas, we’re proud to say, “we don’t just imagine the future, we help build it.”