Looking ahead is all part of strategic thinking, isn’t it? The Ministry of Defence’s foresight in funding small and medium-sized enterprises through its Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) has no doubt paid off as seen last Tuesday when it showcased its cutting-edge defence science and technology innovations in London.
Revolutionary gadgets and gizmos developed by small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) and funded by CDE grants and showcased on Tuesday at the Department of Business, Skills and Innovations include:
• An ‘ex-fix’ bike which is being used by injured soldiers at Headley Court – Frazer-Nash developed the customisable bike to support patients’ changing needs throughout the rehabilitation process.
• An imagery-based system to locate hostile forces from the air - 2d3 Sensing has had four CDE contracts totalling £240,000 and has been combining conventional GPS with a new vision-based tracking system.
• E-textiles which allow electrical power and data to pass through material – Surrey-based Intelligent Textiles Limited, which is developing the ‘electrical’ fabric holds the Guinness World Record for the ‘most advanced soldier system uniform.’
The role of CDE, part of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), is set to grow as outlined in the recent Government White Paper - National Security Through Technology. This includes its novel ‘marketplace’ scheme to provide dedicated support to mentor and promote the best projects from SMEs to help them grow and work with the main defence suppliers, MOD and other government departments. The first ‘marketplace’ will be held on 1 November.
Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology, Peter Luff said: “It is essential that small and medium-sized enterprises have their own platform within the defence industry. Championing these firms requires us actively to encourage and drive greater pull through of innovative ideas into applications and contracts.
Minister Luff added: “The Centre for Defence Enterprise will mentor smaller companies, guiding and helping them to maximise opportunities for exploitation on the international stage. The Centre for Defence Enterprise will be a promoter – giving these firms the opportunity to present their innovations to leading defence and other suppliers and users.”
Defence Minister Peter Luff also announced an additional £2M funding for SMEs working on defence research. The funding, from the Department of Business, Skills and Innovation’sSmall Business Research Initiative, will help further support SMEs to develop their ideas.
Head of CDE, Jonathan Byrne revealed: “At CDE we reach out to the widest range of possible innovators, provide funding to prove the value of innovative concepts, and now, through our planned ‘marketplace’ events, champion the most successful outputs across both MOD and the established defence industry.”
The Centre for Defence Enterprise was established in 2008 to overcome traditional barriers to innovation within the defence sector and encourage the rapid delivery of cutting edge research and development in support of frontline operations. Since then it has provided funding of more than £23.5M, 43% of which has gone to SMEs.
The Centre for Defence Enterprise has now placed its 500th contract to ITSUS. This small Welsh company will receive £104,000 of funding to look at ways of improving existing network systems for military operations. Bandwidth is a scarce and valuable commodity on the frontline. The aim of this project is to provide an enhanced tactical advantage, improved incident response and significantly cheaper operating costs.