Corporate report

DASA Annual Review 2021-2022

Published 7 December 2022

1. Welcome from Anita Friend, Head of DASA

I am delighted to welcome you to the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Annual Review 2021 – 2022. This is our fifth Annual Review and I am very proud to say that DASA has now been innovating for a safer future for over 5 years. During that time, the pace of change has been rapid, be that across technology, defence and security or the global landscape. In addition to this, the worldwide pandemic brought even more unprecedented change into our lives.

Throughout all this, DASA’s key focus has always been on finding new innovative ideas, to help the UK harness science and technology within industry and academia at pace so we stay one step ahead of those wishing to cause the UK harm. In the past 5 years we have run more than 80 competitions, awarded over £180m worth of funding to develop innovative ideas, built networks up and down the country and across the world, working with thousands of innovators of all shapes and sizes and multiple government stakeholders.

In fact at the end of March 2022 we had been operating for 1938 days and agreed funding for 1065 projects, which is just over 1 agreed every 2 days! We have built DASA from a very small beginning and gone on an upward journey to be a leader in the innovation space with numerous proofs of concepts of ideas found by DASA now in the hands of end users.

A need for greater diversity in the supply chain was a key reason DASA was set up and it is central to our mission. We believe the key to successful innovation is ensuring that ideas reflect the community around us and we are proud to continue our work in reaching out to a diverse network of innovators across the UK and overseas and supporting businesses from a range of non-traditional backgrounds.

For me, a key highlight in 2021 was the launch of the DASA Strategy 2021-2024: Innovation for a Safer Future. This refreshed strategy aimed to shift our efforts to ensure that more of the projects we fund deliver impact and continue to be developed into future capability. In addition we wanted to reinforce our position as an exemplar innovation organisation that promotes best practice across government and set out our objectives for the next few years.

I believe that the DASA Strategy 2021-2024 is a useful guide for us all as we navigate whatever the future might hold for defence and security innovation, and I would encourage you to take a look if you haven’t already. We have used it to frame this year’s review.

Our strategy details our commitment to delivering impact for national security from a wealth of talented innovators. It explains our shift in effort was to expand our Access to Mentoring and Finance team and the services DASA offers to help innovators access further funding and develop the business behind the idea. This complements and enhances our existing services to innovators to ensure the innovation and business can best access their target market within the defence or security sectors. New services included the launch of Defence Innovation Loans, the First Customer Fund, Regional Partnering Fund, Defence and Security Seed Fund and preparation for the launches of the Defence Technology Exploitation Programme and Ideas Marketplace. Together these mechanisms expand our existing service portfolio to help a diverse range of businesses grow and become potential future suppliers to defence and security.

DASA’s service offering is sophisticated and unique; from understanding our defence and national security challenges, to finding and funding innovative ideas, to helping suppliers access the business support services we offer and navigate the sometimes complex defence and security ecosystem; DASA is right there with you on that journey.

Our focus remains on delivering innovation for a safer future and working with you whether you are an innovator, in the Armed Forces, working in the Emergency Services, an investor, or government official. Looking ahead it is hard to know what the next 5 years will bring, as we emerge from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and into a new uncertain global situation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But what I do know is that innovation and collaboration will remain at the heart of what we do at DASA. I hope that this look back at DASA’s activities during this past financial year, and reflections on the past 5 years, demonstrates this and I know that we can continue to build on this success going forward.

DASA facts and figures for 2021 - 2022

2. Being an exemplar innovation organisation

2.1 Be an exemplar innovation organisation that promotes best practice across government, and seeks to build on its experience and learning

DASA has grown significantly as an organisation since we were set up in 2016. Both physically in the number of staff we have and our reach across the UK, but also in the way we do things. Our culture is innovative at heart; DASA staff are constantly questioning how to do things differently, and better, to enable innovation for safer future.

In our first years, our service offer was primarily focused on finding and funding innovation. Since then the services DASA offers have expanded to also help support the development, impact and commercialisation of the innovations we find and fund.

We recognised that to maximise the potential for defence and security users to utilise the innovations funded through DASA, we needed to strengthen our services which focus on helping innovative suppliers develop their understanding of the operational requirements and procurement practices within their target market. We also understood that for these innovators to optimise the potential for their innovation to have impact, we needed to enhance our services that would help them de-risk their business. This is something that is currently unique within government and we are proud to be leading the way.

2.2 DASA becomes an Aerospace Xelerated programme partner

We have learned that collaboration between suppliers and across government is key to achieving impact. In September 2021, under the UK Government’s Strategic Prosperity Partnership with Boeing, DASA joined Aerospace Xelerated as a programme partner. Aerospace Xelerated, is a funded 3 month accelerator for software start-ups working to solve challenges in and advance the future of aerospace. Led by Boeing it is comprised of a number of partners from across the aerospace supply base as well as airlines.

Anita Friend, Head of DASA:

The Ministry of Defence is keen to understand how early engagement between start-ups and MOD in programmes such as this can lead to improved outcomes for defence and for the companies involved. By partnering in Aerospace Xelerated and helping the companies understand the needs and opportunities provided by defence, we hope to accelerate our own learning as well as theirs.

Working with Aerospace Xelerated has been our first collaboration with a private sector accelerator and we have used this opportunity to both observe and learn how industry is galvanising innovators to address challenges in the supply chain. This sharing of ideas across government and industry positions us strongly in the exemplar innovation space and helps us to promote best practice.

2.3 DASA is accredited by the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (IKE Institute)

Building on this, in October 2021, DASA was officially recognised as an Investor in Innovation. Benchmarked and accredited by the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (IKE Institute) – the UK’s professional body for innovators – DASA achieved the Investor in Innovations standard aligned to the ISO 56002 international guidelines for innovation best practice.

This award is very important to us as it validates and independently certifies the innovation of our people and organisation.

As DASA continues to build ecosystems of customers and suppliers that ensure the identification and development of innovative solutions to security and defence challenges, we are constantly seeking to build on our experience and learning. Be that through the creation of new services, the use of analytical data in decision-making, joining new innovation programmes – such as Aerospace Xelerated – or providing learning and development opportunities for our staff.

By acting as a thought leader, encouraging risk-taking and championing the value of innovation across government we can be that exemplar innovation organisation and share best practice more widely.

3. Case study: Award winning impact

3.1 DASA best practice and collaborative approach with partners across government brings award winning success

In 2021, DASA was delighted that a competition launched to increase the speed of decontaminating ambulances during the coronavirus pandemic was recognised with a St David Award for Innovation, Science and Technology.

A collaboration between the Welsh Government, Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust (WAST), and the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Centre of Excellence, the competition utilised the expertise of DASA, as an innovation organisation, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to source and assess potential cleaning solutions.

Drawing on lessons learnt from best practice, DASA’s contribution included providing the framework for promoting, managing and reviewing the proposals, enabling the team to accelerate the project from discovery to physical trials within a short time-frame of just 6 weeks.

The impact of the innovation found through the DASA competition was to cut ambulance sanitisation times from over 2 hours to under 20 minutes.

4. Reaching out to DASA’s networks

4.1 Strengthen and broaden links to innovators across the UK and elsewhere, attracting the best innovative ideas for defence and security

We have sourced and maintained an incredible network of some of the brightest innovators across the UK and further afield. It has been important for us to reach out to non-traditional defence suppliers, enabling the curation and creation of the very latest novel solutions and innovations.

Our team of Innovation Partners is unique. They are based across the UK and work to maintain relationships, and create new ones with innovators in their local area. In 2021 we were delighted to recruit new Innovation Partners meaning that we now have Innovation Partners for each of the key economic regions in England and across all the devolved administrations – Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This demonstrates our commitment to levelling up and ensuring that we are reaching out across the UK and beyond the greater South East; to non-traditional and smaller suppliers, in industry and academia, as well as the established supply base.

Introducing Dr Clare Green, Innovation Partner for the East of England who joined DASA in August 2021:

I am passionate about embedding commercial focus and translational skills within project teams and get a great deal of satisfaction from seeing developments move through the technology readiness levels and from playing a key part in enabling early-stage ideas to pass through the critical proof of feasibility and demonstrator stages so they are investor-ready.

Innovation Partners offer support and advice to any organisation within their respective regions, and can provide more details on accelerating new ideas, as well as how best to engage with DASA to obtain UK government innovation funding. Through this vital networking we are able to ascertain the best innovations and novel solutions for existing challenges in the defence and security sectors.

Introducing Tom Adamson, Innovation Partner for Wales, who joined DASA in October 2021:

After growing up and living here in Wales I am looking forward to working with the innovators within our country. We have a rich history and a diverse environment in which to innovate, with the potential to provide solutions to many of the challenges that face the front line within defence and security.

By understanding their regions and DASA’s overall strategy, our Innovation Partners have established firm relationships within academia, industry and government; ever expanding their networks of innovators in all sectors.

4.2 Reaching out through the Regional Defence and Security Clusters

A major contributor to ongoing networking opportunities in the defence and security sectors has been our support to the roll-out of regionally owned defence and security clusters. The first one launched was the South West Regional Defence and Security Cluster (SWRDSC). This is just the first of many regional defence and security clusters planned, and we are working with partners throughout the regions to support the launch of more.

DASA’s Innovation Partner covering the South West region, Mike Madden, details the cluster’s aims and impact:

The South West Regional Defence and Security Cluster was the first pan-Defence and Security cluster in the UK. Following its launch in November 2020, and throughout the first year of the South West Regional Defence and Security Cluster, DASA has supported the cluster and its goals to enhance collaboration between industry, academia and government.

4.3 Reaching out to fund innovators in Scotland

One example of DASA’s continued efforts to build networks into all areas of the UK, while actively seeking out the best innovative ideas, is the milestone we marked in 2021 of providing £10 million worth of funding for Scottish innovations. Up to the end of the March 2022, more than 60 innovators based in Scotland had received funding from DASA to help take their ideas to the next level, including innovations in space technology, photonics, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, robotics and materials science.

Debra Carr, DASA Scotland Innovation Partner, said:

I’m thrilled that DASA reached £10 million in funding for projects based in Scotland in 2021. It is a testament to the incredible work that has come through our competitions and a great showcase of Scottish contributions to vital areas of defence and security such as space, robotics, artificial intelligence and photonics. We greatly look forward to working with more Scottish innovators in the future.

DASA continues to be on the lookout for novel solutions to existing challenges in security and defence and looks forward to working with more innovative organisations wherever they may be based.

4.4 Reaching out through social media

Social media is a key tool to help us reach out and make us accessible to the public. Our networks are going from strength to strength.

Throughout 2021 – 2022 we added over 450 followers to Twitter and nearly 2500 to LinkedIn.

Through an increased focus on our social media output we have grown our following enabling us to reach out to a broader community of innovators.

4.5 Reaching out through events

DASA recognises the value of showcasing our services and exhibiting with our funded suppliers at conferences to maximise awareness within government and among suppliers, ensuring we are reaching a diverse audience across the UK regions. We have welcomed the return of live events and are delighted to be able to meet with innovators and customers face to face again to help cement relationships with collaborators, aiming to deliver all our events in an inclusive way.

From April 2021 to March 2022, DASA took part in over 30 national events, reinforcing our position within the defence and security innovation ecosystem. During this same timeframe, over 200 regional events were held or attended by our Innovation Partners. In November 2021 alone our Innovation Partners were present at 26 events, giving innovators the opportunity to meet with DASA more than once every working day of the month!

Included in the list of events was DASA’s first-time delivering events in the most northern island of the UK – Unst as well as Shetland and Orkney in October 2021.

We continue to attend events, eager to expand our contacts and innovation ecosystems. Watch out for DASA at events in the coming year and beyond.

5. Case study: DASA support accelerates Scottish start-up

5.1 Glic: Smart Hitch technology offers efficiency in frontline resupply

Glic Ltd is a technology start-up based in rural Aberdeenshire. The company was established to revolutionise the way cars connect to trailers – developing cutting-edge technology which enables seamless connection of trailers to vehicles without human intervention. Glic began working on a civilian auto-hitch system in 2016 and 2 years later, delivered a fully functioning prototype of the Smart Hitch. The design has been awarded patents in Australia, Germany, the UK and USA.

A chance meeting with DASA’s Innovation Partner in Scotland, Dr Deb Carr, encouraged Glic to consider an alternative use for Smart Hitch. This led to a successful bid into DASA’s Open Call for Innovation in 2019 where Glic was awarded £99,000 to adapt their civilian design for NATO vehicles.

After being introduced to the concept and seeing a video of the Smart Hitch in action, the British Army were keen to provide funding to develop the technology for military use and an opportunity at the end of the project to trial Smart Hitch using NATO vehicles. The trial proved successful, demonstrating that Smart Hitch can autonomously connect and disconnect a trailer from a military Land Rover and safely tow the trailer over both flat and uneven terrain.

DASA funding, including post-contract business mentoring and coaching, has enabled Glic’s business to expand, adding a full time electronic/software engineer to their headcount.

Further successful funding bids and investment from Scottish Enterprise will help develop Smart Hitch for use on larger vehicles with higher payloads and to explore inductive power transfers to further improve versatility and reliability.

5.2 Solving national security challenges

Key to DASA’s success is close and collaborative working with our national security colleagues both at home and abroad. This enables us to better understand their needs, frame their opportunities into actionable competitions, and support projects as they mature so that each and every innovation has the maximum chance of having an impact and making a difference.

To that end, we have placed DASA partners within the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, Strategic Command, Defence Equipment and Support and Defence Digital and linked up with their innovation hubs, to provide that bridge from a promising idea to an impactful product ready to enter service.

Alice Loten, DASA Partner for Defence Equipment and Support:

Innovation is important when procuring new or upgrading existing capabilities to ensure that our Armed Forces continue to be ahead of the curve. It is exciting to work with DE&S to identify opportunities for DASA funded innovations to inform equipment programmes and understand how we can make it easier for innovation to be efficiently pulled through to an in-service capability.

Dominic Simonis-Law, DASA Partner for Defence Digital:

As the DASA Partner embedded in Defence Digital it’s my job to connect the digital problems of defence with the best ideas in industry and also provide the avenue for industry to pitch innovative solutions into Defence Digital. Being embedded directly in the Defence Digital Innovation Team means I can provide industry direct access to a forward looking team hungry for new ideas as well as gaining reach across all of Defence Digital.

5.3 Collaborating to develop the Security Open Call

One of the most vital, and challenging, duties of government is to provide security for its citizens. A challenge that only becomes increasingly diverse and complex in the face of global issues. It is crucial the UK has the right capabilities to both ensure public safety and maintain a strategic advantage over the criminal community as well as other threat actors.

Through our strong relationships across government, DASA led the development of a successful, collaborative bid, supported by the Home Office, Department for Transport and other government security departments, for £20m from the HM Treasury Shared Outcomes Fund.

In June 2021, DASA was able to utilise this £20m funding to launch a new open call for innovation, ‘Security Rapid Impact Innovations’, to specifically focus on tackling challenges from across the security sector. The Security Open Call offers funding for any innovations that can enhance understanding of threats to security and safety in the UK, help to enable threat prevention or enhance the threat response.

Trilateral Research

Funded through the Security Rapid Impact Innovations Open Call to develop explainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) to extract and communicate insight from existing databases to help police combat child exploitation and organised crime. The explainable AI could help empower users to understand data driven insights and enhance their professional judgement to review cases for potential interventions.

DASA Security Open Call facts and figures 2021 - 2022

5.4 Collaborating to reach out to security innovators

In January 2022 DASA launched the Security Briefing Programme, a series of hosted webinars to help innovators better understand the security challenges of different government departments and receive guidance on topics relevant to the Security Rapid Impact Innovations Open Call. The webinar series began with representatives from the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) and focussed on CPNI’s science and technology priorities.

The webinar programme also included UKRI Horizon Europe discussing the Horizon Europe Civil Security for Society work programme and Counter Terrorism Policing briefing about their science and technology requirements.

These webinars allowed DASA to reach more than 500 innovators and government employees further strengthening our efforts to collaborate with stakeholders across national security. DASA will continue to deliver the Security Briefing Programme in 2022 and beyond.

5.5 Collaborating to develop Themed Competitions

Using our Themed Competitions, DASA has continued to collaborate closely with defence and government national security departments as well as organisations across the wider public sector, to provide a route to access cutting-edge science and technology, enabling the UK to develop and retain a strategic advantage. Themed Competitions are designed to find, evaluate and support applied research and development projects to further the progress of technologies tackling specific challenges in defence and national security.

Across 2021-2022 DASA launched 9 Themed Competitions covering 8 different themes and 6 Market Explorations on behalf of a variety of government customers including: the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Home Office, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and the Royal Navy.

5.6 Collaborating to showcase innovation

In March 2022, DASA was able to showcase the innovations from Phase 2 of one of our previous themed competitions, ‘A Joint Effort’, which sought innovative approaches for creating and managing joints and integrating novel materials onto military platforms. This bi-lateral project saw DASA working as a common assessment framework with the Defence Science Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and Australia’s Department of Defence.

The Joint Effort competition demonstrates the possibility of engaging quickly with partners globally to identify and deliver high-risk, high-reward research. Many of the innovators showcased at the event extended their teams to include international partners and identified exploitation routes across both nations, demonstrating true collaboration and aligned programmes of work. As the first innovation competition of this kind, the call has developed new methods and ways of working to enable further collaborative innovation competitions across defence and security between the UK and international partners.

6. Case study: Collaborative competition

6.1 Deeper Scan: A game-changer in hardware validation, threat and anomaly detection

Airport security is incredibly complex. Authorities need to provide effective, efficient and passenger friendly screening systems, whilst staying ahead of evolving security threats.

Bedfordshire- based NWPRO Ltd received £80,000 through a DASA competition delivered as part of the Future Aviation Security Solutions (FASS) programme managed by the Home Office and the Department for Transport. The funding was awarded to develop Deeper Scan - a whole object detection system which uses innovative artificial intelligence and x-ray technology to scan airline baggage and identify electronic contents, with accurate results ready in less than 15 seconds.

Deeper Scan has received significant interest from major airports, and NWPRO Ltd are working to integrate Deeper Scan with off-the-shelf x-ray and CT scanning capabilities, to reduce the resource burden for airlines and airports.

The technology has also found an additional use in cyber security. Deeper Scan can be used to validate electronic assets, scanning and identifying components within new electronic devices to detect tampered and counterfeit hardware. This is hugely beneficial to government departments and other official agencies who handle and rely on sensitive information every day, and need to ensure that it is secure at all times. NWPRO Ltd has already received great feedback on their contribution to a safer cyber resilience through the supply chain from government agencies.

NWPRO have been successful in gaining further DASA funding to develop Deeper Scan Visual, which uses visual rather than x-ray imaging, enabling roll out to a larger, more diverse market. In June 2021, Deeper Scan was selected as one of the UK’s most innovative cyber security products in a competition run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), highlighting its capability need.

7. Increasing the pull through of innovative ideas

7.1 Focus effort on increasing the pull through of innovative ideas, supporting the exploitation and commercialisation of solutions into capability

Our refreshed DASA Strategy recognised a need to place more emphasis on supporting the pull through of ideas to impact, and that this required not only support to develop the technology but also a focus on business and market readiness. In increasing our efforts on the pull through of ideas we’ve identified practical ways to support business readiness and improve the commercialisation of ideas funded through DASA.

This includes helping suppliers develop ideas aligned to market needs, by expanding the existing Exploitation Manger function to develop a dedicated Defence Exploitation Manager team.

In addition, to help build the businesses behind the idea we have expanded the Access to Mentoring and Finance team (A2MF) and introduced a range of new funding mechanisms including Defence Innovation Loans.

We help our innovators that show technical promise by providing dedicated support and guidance to develop their business and improve the system readiness of their innovation. The defence and security sectors have specific requirements and ways of working so being ready, as a business, to work within that system is important and DASA helps innovators understand this system.

7.2 Supporting the supplier to meet defence needs: Defence Exploitation Team

During 2021, the Defence Exploitation Team was established, building on the successful model already implemented to support Security. These teams offer guidance to DASA suppliers on how to maximise opportunities to deliver value for defence and security, confirming they are market ready and can progress their ideas beyond R&D towards a valuable novel capability. The dedicated Defence Exploitation Team works with both suppliers and defence and security stakeholders and the foundations have been set to develop a comprehensive and collaborative exploitation service for DASA suppliers.

7.3 Building the business behind innovations: Access to Mentoring & Finance Team (A2MF)

In 2021, DASA secured £32.6m over the next 4 years through the spending review for the development of Alternative Funding Mechanisms delivered through DASA’s Access to Mentoring and Finance (A2MF) services. DASA’s A2MF team provides a direct support line for innovators to take their ideas to the next level.

The A2MF team works closely with innovators to understand their business needs and aspirations. Their goal is to help companies become investment, market and supply chain ready.

Engrained in the extensive business incubation and support community, the A2MF team use a smart brokerage model to help DASA suppliers identify and access the expertise and funding required to overcome challenges to business growth and realise their ambitions.

Alan Scrase, A2MF Lead and London & the South:

I am delighted we have been able to create the Access to Mentoring & Finance team, which really understands the challenges of running a business. Their wide-ranging experience means we can support a broad spectrum of companies and their staff. Even though we are a relatively new team, it’s a pleasure to see the positive impact they have already had.

The Alternative Funding Mechanisms and establishment of the A2MF team has enabled us to deliver further investment opportunities and funding mechanisms to the defence and security ecosystem, so that they can go on to further develop their products. Through this DASA can now provide investment and strategic supplier readiness services to deliver further impact.

7.4 Linking the investor to the innovator

Each year the A2MF team bring together a cohort of the top innovators funded by DASA to pitch their businesses and novel technological ideas at DASA’s Annual Investor Showcase. The businesses receive dedicated training and support to develop a compelling pitch deck tailored to the investor audience.

Here is what some of our innovators had to say about working with DASA

7.5 Making loans easier and accessible: Defence Innovation Loans

In June 2021, DASA was pleased to establish the Defence Innovation Loan as a new funding opportunity. It launched with £10 million to lend for innovative defence solutions.

Accessible to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and with a below market interest rate of 7.4% per annum, the Defence Innovation Loan provides an excellent opportunity for SMEs to apply for affordable funds to help bring solutions into the hands of defence frontline services.

It is delivered by a partnership between DASA and Innovate UK and builds upon our goal of helping to convert mature defence innovations into a viable business proposition that can compete for defence procurement.

DASA Defence Innovation Loans

8. DASA funded innovators making an impact

DASA funded companies making an impact

9. Look forward

Over the coming year we will continue to work with innovators and customers alike to build relationships and ensure that DASA is enabling the best ideas to be found, developed and supported to deliver impact for National Security.

For example, DASA will play a key role in the development of the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA). This is an important part of NATO’s modernisation programme designed to harness new dual-use technologies for use across the NATO Alliance.

We will launch the Ideas Marketplace, an online platform where innovators can collaborate, share ideas to meet defence challenges and get innovations in front of stakeholders.

And with the launch of Defence Technology Exploitation Programme (DTEP), a £16 million programme for collaborative projects between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and larger suppliers, DASA will help boost SME defence innovation and keep the UK at the forefront of defence technology.

We will also trial outcome metrics to demonstrate the value and impact of DASA, work to ensure that we are engaging a diverse range of suppliers and people, further build on our reputation for delivery and continue to learn from our experience so that we can deliver for the next 5 years and beyond.

These are just a few of the things we will do to, as laid out in our strategy continue to be an exemplar innovation organisation that promotes best practice across government, strengthen and broaden links to innovators, collaborate with customers and increase the pull through of innovative ideas.

10. Conclusion

As we all continue to adjust to changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the new global, defence, economic and social implications of the war in Ukraine, DASA’s focus will remain on innovation for a safer future.

But in order to do this we need you. If you are a supplier contact us to find out how we could help turn your idea into a reality for the defence and security of the UK, and if you are working in defence, security or wider government we want to support you to find the innovation you need.

Contact us: accelerator@dstl.gov.uk