The Research & Development Society is excited to announce the themes for its online Zoom event this Friday 14th March. In our first event at Westcott Space Cluster, we received many valuable contributions from stakeholders across industry & government. From this input we have identified three core themes to build our discussion around as we proceed.
Government as a Customer
Within the defence sector, we can expect the government continue to act as a captive market for new products and services that might expand the capabilities of our military. While an increased focus on dual-use technologies may introduce new dynamics we do expect this to change. How should government act as a customer to best support the development and deployment of new technologies?
- Procurement must avoid over-specifying requirements. We should be specifying problems, not products.
- UK Procurement must be designed for more agile environments where smaller players can engage, not just defence sector Primes.
- MoD must incentivise technology trials that will provide new lessons for innovators and regulators.
Government as an Enabler
UK SMEs regularly face barriers resulting from obsolete & confused regulatory requirements, and a market that is reluctant to open doors for them. New governmental agencies, like the Regulatory Innovation Office, may hold the levers to solve these issues. How should the government act as an enabler through directing regulatory policy and managing relationships between stakeholders?
- Regulatory bodies need to become more responsive to new technologies.
- Greater clarification is needed to manage overlapping regulatory remits and inconsistent technical requirements.
- SMEs operating at the limits of regulatory frameworks do not have the resources to lobby government for policy changes while keeping themselves afloat.
SME – Prime partnerships
The UK defence market continues to be dominated by the established Primes. For UK SMEs to mature, they need to be provided with sufficient resources to enter the market. The government will need to manage the relationships between the big and small players to ensure finance, support and access to infrastructure is distributed appropriately.
- How can SMEs access critical resources more easily? (Finance, Testing Facilities, Markets)
- How do SMEs and primes identify suitable partnerships where they can support each other effectively?
- How does the government incentivise collaborative behaviour that increases innovation and international competitiveness?
We hope that all of you will join our discussion at 1pm this Friday 14th March to answer some of these questions and ensure our recommendations provide the best possible solutions to the challenges we face.
If you are interested in attending, please contact jamie.phadke@rdsoc.org along with a statement explaining your interest and what you hope to get out of the event.