Winners of £2m autonomy and big data defence funding announced
Above:
Some of the winners with Defence Minister Philip Dunne.
Crown copyright
In the largest ever Centre for Defence Enterprise-run funding competition, 24 projects have been selected that aim to address the challenges associated with using autonomy and big data in defence.
These are the second round of winners from the Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) Innovation Challenge, valued at £2 million for the initial phase of work.
Speaking at the UK Defence Solutions Centre (UKDSC) in Farnborough, Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: “It is a real privilege to be here today, and to have a chance to meet the second group of Innovation Challenge winners. I’m particularly pleased to see so many of the winners from small and medium enterprises; their innovation is something that Defence is committed to harnessing and growing, in order to ensure that these bright sparks really fire up Defence capability for both our Armed Forces and our export customers around the world.”
Among the successful bidders is Hampshire-based SME Polaris Consulting Ltd, which is being awarded three contracts for its proposals on maritime navigation, intelligence data, and route optimisation.
The £10 million Innovation Challenge was launched in March 2015 with the aim of encouraging the development of innovative defence products. It’s funded by MoD and delivered through the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) in partnership with the DGP’s UKDSC and is fully compliant with the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI).
The winners of the first round of these competitions were announced in September 2015. The projects on training and persistent surveillance are progressing well, with collaborative links forming to help take them successfully through to the next phase of development this year.
Steve Brittan, Chief Executive Officer at UKDSC, said: “We were delighted to host Philip Dunne at the UKDSC today and to be able to announce the latest winners for this Innovation Challenge. We have been thrilled with the quantity and the quality of the submissions and it was great to have the opportunity to show Philip the exciting innovative solutions that the UK Value Chain is producing.”