Many emerging and disruptive
technologies are inherently dual-use, and notwithstanding the essential role of government’s own R&D, the vast majority of technological advances are driven by industry for commercial applications.
Recognising these linkages, the MOD will partner with BEIS and use the Defence Innovation Priorities to set out where the most pressing defence problems overlap with challenges faced by other sectors of the economy. Based on this analysis, specific cross-sector innovation
campaigns will be developed that exploit the strengths of the UK civil and defence sectors. These are to be implemented in partnership between MOD, BEIS, other government departments and public and private technology centres as appropriate.
This approach builds on lessons from the Subsea Autonomous Systems Challenge, developed in partnership with the Royal Navy, the Oil and Gas industry and InnovateUK, and from emerging
opportunities linked to electric vehicles for the British Army.
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The defence and security sectors have a wide presence right across the UK. Many sites are significant providers of high quality and skilled jobs in their local areas.
Taking more of a regionally focused approach, there are opportunities for government, industry and academia to work together to boost collaboration and increase opportunities for suppliers. Co-creation is also a critical means for the defence and security community to develop novel technologies and ensure they are suitable from the outset to address our most critical capability
challenges. Our approach will be centred around a mix of physical and virtual clusters:
• We will publish an ambitious defence AI strategy and invest in a defence AI centre to accelerate adoption of this transformative technology across the full spectrum of our capabilities and activities.
• Through the Defence Suppliers Forum, MOD is supporting industry and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in piloting a network of new Regional Defence and Security Clusters (RDSCs), starting with the South West of England. These clusters, which may be physical or virtual, will allow industry and
government to share ideas, promoting collaboration and commercialisation.
They are intended to develop innovative regional industrial
capabilities to contribute to UK military capability by creating collaborative pathways for SMEs as a route into the
defence supply chain. Businesses and LEPs are currently working to
establish the next RDSCs in Scotland, North West England and London with other areas under active
consideration. As part of the MOD’s S&T collaboration and engagement strategy, we will explore how to open up further opportunities for
collaboration with academia and industry on early stage S&T through to demonstration, testing and delivery of next generation capabilities.
• The new National Security Technology and Innovation Exchange (NSTIx) is a cross-government partnership to enable a world leading, agile and responsive defence and security S&T ecosystem that amplifies the UK’s strength to deliver advantage through an end-to-end approach. NSTIx is piloting a network of co-creation spaces that will bring together world-class expertise and specialist facilities from government, the private sector and leading academic communities.
The spaces will bring together government users with innovative partners in industry and academia, encouraging seamless exchanges of ideas and data, iterative prototyping and rapid capability development.
They should drive the development of effective, user-driven technology at a pace and scale that could not
otherwise be achieved.
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National Security Technology and Innovation Exchange (NSTIx)
The NSTIx partnership was established in January 2020 to pilot a science, technology and innovation partnership across government departments and agencies to cohere and support the effective delivery of national security S&T outcomes through a co-ordinated
approach to investment and activity. The NSTIx Core Programme team is formed of experienced officials from six different national security departments.
Core functions include: strategic analysis of the national security community’s R&D portfolio and capabilities; coordination of complementary plans and capabilities to facilitate partnerships on common areas of interest; and incentivising co-creation and collaboration to drive development of new technologies and solutions.
These initiatives will build on and
complement the work already undertaken by JSaRC, DASA and the Defence
Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to join up innovation in the defence and security industrial sectors with relevant customers in government.
Finally, it is recognised that many of the most transformative innovations are developed by entrepreneurs and small companies that often struggle to scale up and commercialise their products.
Therefore, to support businesses that have demonstrated that they have significant potential and to help them mature innovative concepts for which they have been funded by DASA, the MOD will
expand its Access to Mentoring and Finance scheme to help SMEs funded through DASA commercialise their innovations. In addition, the MOD will expand the Defence Technology
Exploitation Programme (DTEP), currently being piloted in Northern Ireland, into a UK-wide initiative. DTEP will support collaborative projects between SMEs and prime contractors across the UK,
enhancing the capability of UK based SMEs to develop innovative products and bring them to market, helping to exploit new technologies as well as growing potential exports and spill over benefits.
National Security Strategic Investment Fund
The National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) is the
government’s corporate venture capital fund that enables national security departments to access advanced dual-use technologies. NSSIF provides equity funding to advanced dual-use technology companies indirectly through fund
managers and, in specific circumstances, through direct investment. Government departments work together and
participate in the NSSIF to drive
innovation supported by strategic venture capital. There is scope to use the NSSIF for more defence activity as well as security, which we will do by identifying priority dual-use technology areas informed by the MOD’s Defence Innovation Priorities, communicating those to the market, and making use of the technical expertise within
government to support and deliver NSSIF opportunities.
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