MacSoft parent Destineer on Thursday announced that it has signed a strategic development agreement with In-Q-Tel, a venture capital group funded by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
This is not the first work Destineer has done with government organizations. Its first person, squad-based tactical action game Close Combat: First to Fight was developed with the help of dozens of active-duty United States Marines, based on their own recent combat experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq. And while the game is being sold commercially, the technology has also been developed to create training simulations used by the U.S. military.
It’s the development of that simulation technology that interests In-Q-Tel, according to Destineer president Peter Tamte. “Our partnership with In-Q-Tel will enhance our technology and expand the work we do with the federal government,” said Tamte in a recent statement.
In-Q-Tel was founded in 1999, after the CIA determined that it needed to find a way to work with new companies that were developing commercial technology that had applications for national security — specifically companies that worked outside the usual parameters of defense contractors. To date In-Q-Tel said has worked with more than 80 companies and 10 universities and research labs to help deliver more than 100 technologies.