St. Louis is positioning itself as the potential next big defense tech hub through a new initiative aimed at attracting startups and investors to build the geospatial industry. Advocates believe that the Gateway City is a prime candidate for this role, but they acknowledge that it must work on convincing a broader audience of its prospects.
Mark Munsell, the former chief AI officer for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), currently leads the GeoFutures initiative under Greater St. Louis, Inc. This not-for-profit effort is designed to stimulate economic development in St. Louis by attracting new businesses, enhancing the workforce, and fostering research in geospatial AI for national security and other sectors, including biotechnology and agricultural technology. GeoFutures recently unveiled a three-year strategic roadmap aimed at enhancing the geospatial ecosystem.
The focus on geospatial technology is significant; Munsell describes it as universally applicable across various domains where data regarding space and time needs assessment. The NGA’s new collaborative workspace in St. Louis, which opened earlier this month, underscores the city’s existing presence in the geospatial arena. St. Louis is home to several major defense and geospatial organizations, like Maxar, Leonardo, and General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT). Although Boeing is shifting some operations away from the region, it plans to invest $1.8 billion in building a digital engineering and aviation facility by 2030.
The NGA’s multibillion-dollar facility has been under construction for years, bolstering defense tech expertise in the area. GDIT has notably doubled its workforce to about 200 in the past five years. According to GDIT’s vice president, Will Clapperton, St. Louis harbors a concentrated pool of analyst expertise essential for mission success. GDIT has also expanded its real estate portfolio to accommodate the growing demand for geospatial intelligence capabilities.
Under the strategic roadmap outlined by GeoFutures, the city seeks to enhance its appeal by creating an organization dedicated to facilitating connections among geospatial startups, existing defense contractors, investors, and job seekers. New companies like Scale AI are also contributing to this growth, with the firm opening a new data center in the former Post-Dispatch newspaper headquarters near the NGA campus, along with securing a $99 million Army contract for research and development.
With ambitions to solidify St. Louis as a defense-tech hub, advocates believe collaboration opportunities with local institutions such as the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and the T-REX innovation center will deepen. Munsell highlights the innate potential of St. Louis, citing a community eager to live, work, and innovate in the city, with successful local entrepreneurs yearning for opportunities in their home region rather than migrating to established tech hubs.
Federal initiatives, like a bill led by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., aim to foster innovation and collaboration in regional hubs for defense technology. The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act mandates a geospatial-specific pilot program to strengthen the workforce around where the NGA operates. Competing cities, such as those participating in the Detroit-launched Reindustrialize summit, are also vying for recognition as defense tech hubs.
Munsell remains optimistic about the future, stating, “If you have talented people, and when they get together and compare notes, there’s this great potential to come up with something.” He aims to make St. Louis the prime destination for entrepreneurs seeking new opportunities in the defense technology sector.
