Engaging with Resilient World market opportunities for SMEs

The Defence & Security landscape is evolving at speed — with threats growing more complex and opportunities expanding rapidly. In the face of rising risks to the UK’s critical infrastructure and heightened adversary activity, prime market stakeholders are looking deeper into the innovative strengths of SMEs to reinforce the UK’s overall capability.

The Government’s latest Spending Review has set a clear tone: there’s strong backing to pivot innovation from non-defence sectors towards key Resilient World challenges, unlocking dual-use capabilities that can address both defence and civilian needs. For agile innovators, this is a pivotal moment to step forward.

Benefits of attending

• Be briefed on key emerging defence and security/resilient world themes that will provide the framework for future competition funding calls, including those from Innovate UK.
• Receive an overview on core business support programmes being implemented setting out to strengthen Island and Mainland opportunity collaboration and prosperity.
• Presentations from the regions Defence and Security network operators that are coordinating the regions capability and challenge opportunity response including DASA (invited), DSTL (invited) and the Southern Central Defence and Security Cluster (confirmed).
• Gain a deeper knowledge of how Innovate UK supports small businesses on a local, national and international level.
• Receive the latest news on business support programmes from Innovate UK designed to enrich investment opportunities and move businesses beyond grant funding cycles and reliability.

Who should attend

• Innovators and SMEs — including potential university spin-outs — with expertise in digital, immersive, and creative industries, ready to pivot their skills into Defence & Security opportunities.
• Growth-focused businesses across all sectors aiming to move beyond grant funding within the next 12 months.
• University programme leads and SMEs in enabling technologies — AI, Quantum, AR/VR/XR, advanced data analytics, innovative data generation (e.g. sensors, photonics) — seeking to connect and collaborate with industrial partners.
• Mainland and island practitioners looking to build cross-Solent collaborations in readiness for future grant or investment opportunities.

Programme

09:00 - Registration

09:30 – 09:35 - Introduction from the Chair

Bruce McLelland, Emerging Tech/Place Impact KTM, Innovate UK BC

09:35 - 09:40 - Welcome, Isle of Wight Business Growth and Support

Chris Brammall, Economic Growth Lead, IoW Council

The scene-setters

09:40 – 09:50 - Defence and Security, Resilient World sector primary drivers

• Mark Hellier, Innovation Partner, South East England, DASA
• Tom Worfolk, Interchange & Skills Growth Manager, Dstl

09:50 - 10:00 - The UKRI key themes

Hazel Biggs, Defence & Security Lead, Innovate UK Business Connect

10:00 – 10:30 - Primes enabling supported supply chains

• Ashly Phillips, SME Supply Chain Mgnt, BAE Systems
• Matt Albans, CTO, Roke

The Innovation curators and drivers

10:30 – 11:00 - Fortified innovation capability through academic partnerships

• Rosemary Nunn, Head of Business and Industry Partnerships, University of Southampton
• David Hutchinson, Associate Dean (R&D), Faculty of Technology, University of Portsmouth

11:00 - 11:30 - Break

11:30 – 11:50 - My SME Innovation Journey within D&S markets

• Nick Allot, CEO, nQuiringminds (inv)
• IoW SME (inv)

The business accelerators.

11:50 – 12:10 - From Local support to International Market engagement

• Rocky Moore, IGS, Innovate UK Business Growth

12:10 – 12:25 - Moving beyond Grant Funding to investment partnerships and wider options

• Emily Baker-Thurston, Investment Specialist, Innovate UK.

The Tech Innovation Networks and opportunity providers

12:25 - 12:35 - Innovate UK supporting AI innovation

• Winn Farier, Innovate UK Business Connect.

12:35 – 13:00 - Regional Networks and opportunity incubators

• Michelle McClean, Programme Manager, South Central Regional Defence & Security Cluster (SC RDSC)
• Louise Butt, Director, Space South Central

12:45 – 13:00 - Chaired clarification questions from the floor.

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 14:10 - The challenge owners vs innovative solution response matchmaker (Innovate UK iX/Contracts for Innovation)

• Bruce McLelland, Innovate UK Business Connect

14:10 – 14:30 - Group discussion with panellist on the regions core Resilient World Market Opportunity

Facilitators

Colm Watling, IOW Business Growth and Opportunity Champion

Bruce McLelland, Innovate UK Business Connect

14:30 - Networking, Refreshments and Close.

A VentureFest South Partner Event.

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