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The EDA seminar on “Setting priorities for R&T in Europe to prepare the future together” was concluded on 26 April in Amsterdam after two days of inspiring presentations and lively debates.

Organised in cooperation with The Netherlands’ Ministry of Defence, under the auspices of the current Netherlands EU Presidency, the conference saw some 150 participants discussing emerging and critical technologies, innovation in defence as well as strategic agenda setting for R&T in Europe.

The event was opened on 25 April with key note speeches by The Netherlands’ Vice Chief of Defence, Vice Admiral Rob Bauer, EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq, European Commission Deputy Director General Pierre Delsaux (DG GROW) and UK MoD R&T Director and current chairman of the EDA R&T Steering Board, Bryan Wells.

Presentations and discussions then followed in three successive panels. Panel 1, “From emerging to critical technologies”, focused on a number of game-changing technologies, as well as on the question of how to find them. In panel 2 “How to innovate in defence?”, participants looked at innovation from various angles. The third panel, “Delivering Europe’s defence research agenda for the future”, was dedicated to the future agenda for R&T in Defence, building on the outcomes of the two previous panels.

In his welcome remarks, EDA CE Jorge Domecq warned against the consequences of insufficient R&D investment and European cooperation in times of successive budget cuts. “In the longer term low R&T investment will lead to losing in Europe Defence and industrial capabilities. We can clearly not afford that risk”, he said. Now that defence budgets in many Member States are beginning to increase again, there is a “golden opportunity not only to invest in the here-and-now but also in the capabilities we will need in the future”, he said. Not only does Europe need to invest more in R&T “but it also needs to do so together, that is cooperatively”. Mr Domecq reckoned the upcoming Preparatory Action on defence research and the potential follow-on programme “will create a ‘game changer’ – provided the budgets are significant”. Domecq asked the question if we need to think about a European cooperation regarding technology watching and innovation on a low Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), in a structure he compared to DARPA.

The Netherlands’ Vice Chief of Defence, Vice Admiral Rob Bauer, also pleaded for investment in a “European agenda for collaborative R&T”. “Collaborative research leads to collaborative development of cutting-edge technologies. And this leads to less waste of both money and opportunities for collaborative procurement and more interoperability. This is why the Netherlands is in favour of a large comprehensive EU-funded defence research programme”, he stated.

European Commission Deputy DG Pierre Delsaux said the Commission’s objective was to make sure the European defence technological and industrial base is “broad, robust, innovative and fit or purpose”. If Europe does not invest in R&T, it won’t be able to cope with the security and defence responsibilities it has, he warned. European defence players need to cooperate more: “Competition should not be between Member States but with the rest of the world”, he said.

UK MoD R&T Director Bryan Wells highlighted the change in defence innovation patterns as civil and commercial high tech players have now taken the lead in R&D, including in fields relevant for the military. The scale of civil R&T investment now dwarfs defence-specific research spending; this trend has already given rise to technology areas in which defence relies completely on civil developments. “We have to accept that we will no longer invent the scientific and technology futures – and we should expect to see truly disruptive innovations occurring in unexpected, unfamiliar places”, he said.

The three experts panels highlighted the great quality of technological developments in Europe and the impact of emerging technologies on Defence, the need for innovation, collaboration, the importance of the Preparatory Action and its potential follow on Defence research programme and the need for a comprehensive prioritization scheme taking into account the different governance models and funding schemes for Defence R&T in Europe.

EDA Deputy Chief Executive Rini Goos closed the conference on 26 April by commending speakers and participants for their “inspiring and active engagement”. The event confirmed that defence-related R&T is important because it underpins the needed future capabilities, he said. “But to do so, it needs adequate funding”, Mr Goos insisted.

More information:

• The Netherlands EU Presidency, together with the EDA, will shortly publish a report summarizing the main findings of the seminar’s three panels. This report will be publicly available and can be obtained on the EDA website from 15 May 2016.

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