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LONDON, England, 26 November 2004. The Armed Forces, UK industry, and academia are benefiting from Defence Technology Centres, thanks to innovative future technology research, Defence Minister Lord Bach told a conference today.
The MoD has committed £90 million to the Defence Technology Centres (DTCs). Overall, the DTCs, which were launched eighteen months ago, will see about £200 million invested jointly by industry, academia and the MoD into highly innovative future technologies over the next six years.
Each Defence Technology Centre (DTC) is a formal collaborative arrangement between industry and academic experts in a particular technology, jointly funded by the MoD and participants.
The conference marks the half-way period of the DTCs' initial three year contract. (The contracts have potential extensions to six years.) The conference is being held at the Royal Society, London, and includes addresses by Lord Bach, Minister for Defence Procurement, and the MoD's Chief Scientific Advisor, Prof Roy Anderson.
DTCs complement the MoD's entire collaborative research programme, including Towers of Excellence (ToEs) and the Joint Grants Scheme (JGS). ToEs are collaborative groupings that focus on narrower areas of technological research and emphasise the technology's commercial opportunities (www.mod.uk/toe). The JGS offers the opportunity to bring forward research proposals for projects that have relevance to MoD research objectives (www.dstl.gov.uk/technology_transfer/jgs.htm).
Lord Bach, Minister for Defence Procurement, said: "All the DTCs have a key role in developing the technologies that will underpin the equipment our Armed Forces will carry into battle in the future.
"Currently, the MOD spends some £450M a year on defence research, making us the biggest player in Europe. We are seeking the best possible return on that investment by focusing on priority areas of science and technology.
"The key to the DTCs' success is in drawing in Private Venture capital and harnessing industrial and academic expertise. The DTCs also underpin the technology aspects of our Defence Industrial Policy."
The Human Factors Integration DTC, which is led by UK-based Aerosystems International, is pushing the boundaries of understanding into human performance in complex military systems. A number of software tools designed to predict an individual soldier's awareness and team performance have already been developed and are being tested against operational scenarios.
In the field of Electro-Magnetic Remote Sensing, the DTC has attracted over £40 million of research proposals from industry and academia to date, spread among 57 projects from 34 British organisations. This DTC has a diverse programme of research, headed up by BAE Systems, aimed at enhancing both performance and cost-effectiveness of sensing equipment.
In the Data and Information Fusion DTC, General Dynamics UK are leading work conducted in academia, including Imperial College. The technological pull-through in this area will be central to MoD's development of Network Enabled Capabilities for the Armed Forces.
Negotiations are continuing for the next DTC, in the field of Systems Integration. This DTC will focus on the rapidly developing world of autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. For more information, see www.mod.uk/dtc.
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