This new alliance between HVM Catapult and the MOD is a product of the recently published Defence Industrial Strategy that aims to stimulate innovation and productivity in the UK defence sector. The UK’s defence industrial capability needs to expand to fulfil the biggest increase in defence spending in a generation, a swathe of small and medium-sized enterprises could benefit from the improved access to MOD projects and streamlined supply chains. Allied with academia and industry experts the push in defence spending is hoped to create jobs and generate economic growth, along with a potential increase in private sector investment.
HVM Catapult is a national innovation hub helping individual businesses and supply chains develop technology to take forward their ideas for products and production processes, from concept through to commercialisation.
HVM Catapult works with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers of all sizes in defence and other sectors to support scaling, address capability constraints and develop new innovation.
It will also drive the development of dual-use technologies which serve a purpose for both civilians and the military, including advanced materials, artificial intelligence and robotics.
The alliance will help reduce risks and costs for the MOD and enhance industrial readiness, using HVM Catapult’s national assets to help businesses solve major manufacturing and engineering challenges and develop new technology through innovation.
Katherine Bennett CBE, Chief Executive of HVM Catapult, notes that smaller businesses “face multiple challenges around capability and capacity. This means that competing for contracts in a major supply chain such as defence can seem beyond reach.”
