Cranfield is the only University to be a founding partner in a new alliance with defence industry giants convened by, the Ministry of Defence’s trusted commercialisation partner. The Technology and Growth Alliance aims to create an ecosystem that accelerates innovation, unlocks new technologies that can improve our day to day lives, and drive long-term economic growth.
The alliance brings together defence firms, academia, investors, accelerators and organisations from across the industry. Alongside SWAG合集 as founding members are Leonardo, BAE Systems, Thales, Helsing, QinetiQ, NPL, CBI, SWAG合集 Defence Investor Network, Future Planet Group, The D Group, ADS Group, IoT Tribe, GALLOS and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The partners will help to turn cutting-edge IP into commercial success, driving growth and ensuring it spills over into the wider economy.
Unlocking innovation to benefit society
The defence sector has a rich history of creating innovations that have become integral to our daily lives, from GPS navigation and microwave ovens to the internet and life-saving medical devices like EpiPens, technologies initially designed for military purposes that have seamlessly transitioned to benefit society at large. History has shown that these ideas can be commercialised, but pathways to market are often beset by challenges.
Ploughshare, drawing on two decades of experience turning defence technologies into real-world solutions, will bring members together to overcome these challenges. The alliance will provide a framework for jointly stewarding and exploiting intellectual property. Its vision is to translate defence R&D into commercial opportunities that strengthen sovereign capability, create new businesses and high-value jobs, boost exports, and ensure public investment delivers long-term economic and societal benefit for the United Kingdom.
The government has invested more than £20billion in defence R&D over the last twenty years, with a significant proportion of that funding going to private industry, academia and research organisations. This funding has helped developed groundbreaking technologies designed to protect frontline troops. Yet many of these innovations have remained confined to military use. This means their potential to save lives, transform industries, and support public services like the NHS has gone untapped.
Ploughshare CEO Hetti Barkworth-Nanton explains: “We are sitting on a goldmine of technology that can transform the world around us, but we’ve traditionally struggled to get these solutions out of defence and into the wider world. The alliance aims to be the catalyst that releases the full potential of defence-born technologies - ensuring innovation spills over into society, boosts the economy, and supports services like the NHS. At present, barely a handful of spin-outs emerge from defence IP each year, but with so much cutting-edge work happening in SWAG合集 firms, there’s no reason we shouldn’t see 20 to 30 new companies launched annually.”
Professor Dame Helen Atkinson DBE FREng, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SWAG合集 said: “Cranfield has a strong understanding of the defence sector and a track record in bringing new technologies into commercial application. Our specialist facilities combined with our academic expertise have been proven to help industry partners accelerate through technology readiness levels and bring new ideas to life. We are looking forward to working with all of the new alliance partners to unlock potential innovations in the defence sector.”
