Interesting few hours at the ‘Searchlight’ Science and Technology Solutions
Interesting few hours at the ‘Searchlight’ Science and Technology Solutions Exhibition at DSTL Porton Down.
A chance to walk the floor, meet lots of different exhibitors and hear what they do, like Greg Windle and his colleague from local Electronics Manufacturer, R&M Electrical Group Ltd.
Also, a great opportunity to catch up with Chris Isaac, CEO and Founder of the SpaceAM and Tim Johnston Founder of UAX Ltd, and hear from both of them about their ongoing journeys with their amazing technologies.
What was surprising, was the number of global businesses present, who didn’t even have a footprint in the UK. Now, I am all for import/export, but quite a lot of people I spoke to before today didn’t even know about the event.
So, I know the sign says 'all welcome', but come on Dstl, let’s use our RDSCs and other networks to get the word out effectively to our SMEs with UK Sovereign capabilities for the next one!
Even more so, as off the back of the recently released DIS (Defence Industrial Strategy) there is a mandate to establish 5 DTEC (Defence Technical Excellence Colleges) across the UK. As we know, it is not just the Prime Organisations that will be looking for apprentices to help deliver defence capability in the longer-term, SMEs will too. So let’s continue to push engagement across all of the tiers, to support both innovation and the growth of skills and capabilities on our home turf!
Always good to bump into Tonino Amorelli from QinetiQ, Mike Madden from UKDI Defence and Security Accelerator, David Payne from Renishaw and Stuart Keegan from the BattleLab. Great to meet you Melody Thompson FIRP.
Having heard the same quote twice in the last two days, it has really stuck with me that this is at the heart of innovation - “the best way to predict the future, is to create it”. Referenced today as being first said by Abraham Lincoln, but when I looked into it, apparently it’s not. So, it seems, innovation can be controversial, but there's nothing wrong with that!
