system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[MCU] What were SHIELD's alternatives to Avengers Initiative?

MCU wiki states, that "While S.H.I.E.L.D. was devoting a majority of its resources into the building of the Triskelion, Nick Fury used finances to observe remarkable or enhanced individuals". In other words, before the Battle of New-York, Avengers were just an underfunded side project, as the very idea of gathering a group of people with superpowers was considered ridiculous by Fury's superiors.

However, even before 2012 SHIELD was pretty much aware about extraterrestrial threats, and the agency had probably been implementing various projects, aimed to protect the Earth from different extraordinary threats, including the already mentioned Triskelion (how a single high-tech building was supposed to protect the entire world, by the way?).

Until now, I just assumed that SHIELD focused its primary efforts on researching alien tech and providing advanced weaponry to regular armies. However, I have found almost no information regarding SHIELD global defence measures, that are not part of Avengers Initiative. Did the agency have anything else besides helicarriers and Triskelion?
gpt
Their only real option is to develop and mass produce advanced weapons based on alien technology/magic/super science, which is what they were trying to do with the tesseract in Avengers 1. This next tech would then be used to equip conventional forces who would then combat threats in a traditional manner.   

On a mild tangent, what SHIELD actually is/do is a total mess. Its clearly an extension of the US intelligence services/armed forces cloaked in the guise of an international organization (why is black widow appearing before a US congressional hearing for leaking SHIELD data in captain America 2?)