The UK Defence sector has reaffirmed the importance of new business partnerships to its success through its refreshed Industrial Policy for 2018.

Gavin Williamson, Defence Secretary, unveiled plans that will continue to make it easier for outside industry stakeholders to do business with UK Defence. This is particularly targeted at small & medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Defence Secretary said on the re-alignment, “British businesses play a vital role in equipping our troops with the tools they need to keep us safe. We are British industry’s biggest customer and we are committed to exporters and small and medium sized businesses to ensure they and out military remains the envy of the world.”

The policy was launched at the UK Defence Solutions Centre as part of an innovation showcase that saw various industry organisations exhibit their innovative defence solutions. This included:

– Ultra-lightweight optics, Glyndwr: Low size, weight and power optics for high altitude pseudo satellite and small satellite applications.

– Infrared Solutions, Amethyst: High performance infrared detectors for the stand-off detection of explosives and chemical agents.

– Oxbotica: Autonomous vehicle technology for last mile resupply.

– Social Network Analysis, Counting Labs: Real time, rapid response software system to inform automatically about emergency events from social media by automatically assessing the veracity of associated rumours.

To follow this innovation showcase and support the Defence sector’s strategic focus, Challenge Advisory have developed RAF100 Interoperability Workshop, a summit that takes specific focus on developing beneficial partnerships between business and the Royal Air Force.

The workshop, to take place in 2018, will provide a platform for collaboration and a space to explore how business solutions can be best applied to the developmental challenges of the Next Generation Air Force.

 

To find out more about the event, click here. You can find out more about how Challenge Advisory provides further collaborative solutions here.

 

To discuss RAF100 Interoperability Workshop, and to find out how you could be involved, email our RAF100 liaison, karveh@challenge.org