Whitespace at DSEI 23 - FCAS Fireside Chat
Forging a Stronger Future: Developing a GCAP SME ecosystem approach that delivers value creation for all participants.
At this year's DSEI 23, Andrew Webber (Whitespace Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer) was joined by John Ridge, Director of Defence Innovation and Kate Robertson, BAE’s FCAS Director of Enterprise Enablement for a Fireside Chat to explore the collaboration between the Defence Innovation Directorate, MoD innovation teams, Defence and Aerospace SME membership organisations and the FCAS industry partners to jointly evolve the approach on how SMEs are engaged, their innovations accelerated and the capabilities exploited.
The Fireside Chat explored how to augment existing company-specific supply chains with a common and shared approach for a GCAP SME ecosystem that both incubates earlier TRL or new SME participants to be ready to engage in a future supply chain but also better enables the existing SMEs in the supply chain to collaborate more widely across the consortium of industry partners as well as with each other.
In an era of fast-evolving threats and transformative technological advancements, collaboration between defence organisations and industry partners, of all sizes, is paramount. Existing supply chains need resilience to adapt and prepare for unexpected events, respond quickly and effectively to disruption and recover stronger with an evolution of their operations and capabilities.
At Whitespace, our work in utilising leading AI technologies and developing AI-powered platforms supports the creation of those Defence ecosystems. It delivers the connection to external organisations and partners which allows for deeper collaboration to more rapidly and creatively solve real-world challenges.
You can access the full Fireside Chat transcript HERE
Topics covered within this conversation:
- Explore an exciting collaboration between the UK Ministry of Defence's MoD Defence Innovation Directorate and the UK Future Combat Air System FCAS industry partners to establish an innovative SME ecosystem programme designed to scale internationally and support the Global Combat Air Programme GCAP.
- Discuss how to address challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs), and the FCAS consortium, in driving value for all participants - including contracting, IP, business risk, access to sensitive data and developing a common ecosystem platform approach that supports collaborations both vertically and horizontally with the participating organisations.
- Develop an SME ecosystem approach that utilises the best of both agile and continuous development to more rapidly design, launch, learn, scale and mature an ecosystem programme that not only drives capability acquisition but also serves as a best practice example to the dynamic synergy between Defense and Industry in solving complex problems.
- Explore how to utilise the latest AI technologies to better find, grow and scale the ecosystem and create a Defence innovation network of networks which supports dual use and multi-domain capabilities.
Insights
Thought Leadership
If you're not willing to change your processes, then you're probably not innovating
There are those who think because they have a policy, it’s job done. No need to have a difficult conversation or review processes. The potential for change has been readied for the moment it happens.
Client Work
Whitespace & IBM launch the Responsible Computing Tech Innovation Challenge
Never one to shy away from a challenge, we're extremely pleased to announce our latest collaboration with IBM - and this time we are inviting startups and SMEs from across the EMEA region to take part in the Responsible Computing Tech Innovation Challenge.
Client Work
Whitespace facilitates the Emergent Alliance. A Covid-19 data alliance featuring IBM, Rolls Royce, Microsoft, and Google Cloud.
Drawing on a diverse collaboration of corporates, individuals, NGOs and Governments, the Alliance will contribute expertise, data, and resources to inform decision making on regional and global economic challenges to aid societal recovery post Covid-19.
