Welcome from Andy Caldwell
Interim Head of DASA
On behalf of Anita Friend, Head of DASA, and myself, welcome to the DASA Annual Review, 2020-2021.
It is a privilege to have been the Interim Head of DASA over the last financial year, and Anita and I are both extremely proud of our staff and the work they are doing at the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA).
This includes the work they have done to contribute to DASA's success, helping Government find solutions to pressing defence and security challenges by connecting them with the best innovators across the UK and, increasingly, from abroad.
DASA finds and funds exploitable innovation for UK defence and security quickly and effectively, whilst boosting UK prosperity.
We are part of the Defence Innovation Directorate in the Ministry of Defence and are co-located with Dstl at Porton Down.
We have staff who live and work in every region and nation of the UK and by working locally, with a wide range of innovators, we provide a critical link to pull through innovation to help the Ministry of Defence, Home Office, and other parts of Government keep this country safe by staying ahead of the threats we face.
When DASA was established in 2016, the defence and security situation was challenging and complex.
Today, more than ever, we still face intensifying and evolving threats to the UK and our allies, which is why DASA's work is so vital in maintaining an advantage over our enemies and those threats.
As the Government’s Integrated Review – ‘Global Britain in a competitive age’ (Mar 2021), sets out, the picture has continued to evolve at a frenetic pace with intensifying threats to our way of life, international norms, and our wellbeing.
The return of persistent competition between nation states and advances in technology have accelerated the need for rapid and innovative solutions in defence and security.
The Coronavirus pandemic has taken the spotlight on the world stage over the past year, and has highlighted the critical and urgent need for innovation as we respond, recover and rebuild from this crisis, to ensure the UK remains a safe and prosperous place to live.
DASA has been at the forefront of this vital effort, fast-tracking technology from a diverse range of sources outside of Government to unlock new and enhanced capabilities whilst investing in brilliant and inventive small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs
DASA has recently published its refreshed strategy to continue to support our tremendous Armed Forces and front line services, and help to find innovation for a safer future.
Together with you, whether you are an innovator, an official, a member of the Police and Emergency Services, or member of the Armed Forces, DASA is here to play its part in keeping our nation and our people safe.
We hope you will enjoy this reflective look at what we have achieved together over the last financial year, and we look forward to continuing our work together to build on our success in 2021-2022.
Andy Caldwell, Interim Head of DASA, August 2021
Responding to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic created a critical need for innovation to resolve unprecedented public health issues across the globe.
We ran three COVID cycles to fast track technologies to counter COVID-19 or similar future threats.
We worked with experts across government to assess 316 proposals from 218 innovators at record speed.
We invested a total of £1.23 million in COVID-related projects with the potential to unlock new and enhanced healthcare capabilities.
Case Study: Autonomous nanodrone
Flare Bright’s SnapShot – a ruggedized nanodrone designed to be the simplest way to get aerial images is ready for in-field trials.
In any military or security operation, awareness of your surroundings is critical. With multiple routes and obstacles to consider, plus a range of weather conditions and communication limitations, gaining situational awareness whilst staying safe and hidden from your adversary can be a battle in itself
UK aerospace company Flare Bright is pushing the boundaries of embedded AI technology to develop autonomous drones which will help frontline troops gain much needed situational awareness in even the most difficult conditions. With the help of DASA funding, they have developed SnapShot – a ruggedized nanodrone, designed to be the simplest way to obtain aerial images at the touch of a button and send them straight to a smart phone or tablet.
SnapShot is a fully autonomous system which can easily be deployed without additional equipment and will glide back to its user whatever the weather, winds or conditions – even in GPS denied and electromagnetically jammed environments.
DASA funding has helped Flare Bright develop their technology from prototype to a market ready demonstration product and the company are now keen to showcase SnapShot’s unique benefits to future users in the defence and security community. They also plan to work with stakeholders to further develop SnapShot’s capabilities. The product has already generated interest from the British Army and Royal Air Force who will be demonstrating the technology during training exercises in Summer 2021. Snapshot has also been selected for the annual US Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment in Fort Benning, Georgia, giving US soldiers a month-long period to test and evaluate the nanodrone’s capabilities.
"DASA funding has supported our credibility in the defence and security market and demonstrates confidence in our technology. It really has been a key foundation of our company’s success."
Chris Daniels, Chief Commercial Officer, Flare Bright
DASA reaches out
This Annual Review showcases how DASA reaches out to help innovators throughout the UK (and across the world) to assess the viability, desirability and feasibility of their ideas, to understand the funding mechanisms available to them and to help them progress innovative ideas from the proposal stage to workable solutions.
We have 12 Innovation Partners who are regionally based across the UK. They are available to give advice to any organisation about their ideas and how they can best engage with DASA to obtain UK Government funding to develop their innovations.
Our Innovation Partners are aligned with wider government initiatives. DASA is taking on a wider role supporting UK defence and security innovation across government, and our Innovation Partners are ideally placed to help innovators understand opportunities across this broader context. DASA is ready to support the newly formed National Security Technology and Innovation Exchange (NSTIx) in delivering its remit and will actively contribute to other initiatives across the defence and security community in government.
Our Innovation Partners know and understand their regions. They have well established relationships with academic institutions, Local Enterprise Partnerships, Chambers of Commerce and trade bodies, and continue to grow their networks of innovators in all sectors.
In 2020-2021, our Innovation Partners almost doubled their networks – from 3,859 innovative organisations at the start of the year to 6,319 connections by March 2021. We have used our social media platforms to engage with the wider global innovation ecosystem. A further 5,000 people or organisations have connected with us on LinkedIn this year as a result of our relevant and engaging content.
Working alongside our team of Innovation Partners is our Access to Mentoring and Finance (A2MF) team, based in the Midlands Engine, the Northern Power House and supporting the devolved Nations. The A2MF team directly support small and medium sized enterprises, helping them to get business ready to support getting their innovations ready for market.
"As DASA expands, we have been proactive in implementing a system which ensures everyone has access to an Innovation Partner no matter where in the UK they are based. This ensures that DASA is able to work with the best innovators from across the UK, and can easily understand and articulate our regional impact.” Ben Whitaker, DASA Outreach Lead
April 2020
Enhancing ambulance sanitisation
Challenge: When the coronavirus pandemic officially reached UK shores, there were growing fears over ambulance contamination and availability. Ambulances take an average of 45 minutes to clean by hand, but can take several hours for a deep clean, limiting capacity and taking crews and vehicles off the road.
Outcome: DASA and Dstl completed rapid coronavirus support work in just 33 days after our appeal attracted more than 200 responses from industry in just one week. Twelve suppliers were selected to be trialed by scientists at Porton Down. DASA was able to work quickly with Welsh Ambulance, Welsh SBRI, Innovate UK and Dstl colleagues to design and implement a testing programme that allowed Welsh Ambulance Services Trust to consider how they might optimise their sanitisation regime to mitigate the growing threat posed by Coronavirus and reduce the impact to their service delivery.
“This investment will unleash the power of innovation to rapidly help us in the national effort against Coronavirus. It was a broad call for innovation, meaning we were open to any idea from anybody to solve or tackle any challenge.” Anita Friend, Head of DASA
"Wales is home to a thriving Cyber Ecosystem. The world-renowned CyberWales Cluster has members that cover FinTech through to Forensics, also with a very strong Defence contingent. I enjoy engaging with the Welsh innovators who are very keen to engage with DASA. They are able to use the expertise they have in civil cyber applications to generate novel ways of making the UK safer.”
Andrew Peaty, DASA Innovation Partner
May 2020
DASA cuts through the fog
Challenge: DASA launched a competition to develop novel sensor technology, such as imaging in difficult environments, detecting and identifying small targets such as drones, and identifying objects more than 20 kilometres away.
Outcome: The Advanced Vision 2020 and Beyond competition awarded 13 contracts worth a total of £2.1 million to develop improved Electro-Optics and Infrared (EOIR) sensor capability, addressing the future need for highly capable and affordable sensors.
Dr Debra Carr, Innovation Partner, DASA Scotland
“Electro-Optic and Infrared (EOIR) sensors are a key military capability. This competition sought to invest in technology that will extend the range, lower the cost and size and expand the range of targets that can be acquired by EOIR sensors. Supporting Scottish innovators via this competition benefits DASA's customers by exploiting Scotland's internationally recognised expertise in the development of EOIR sensors.”
June 2020
Shielding troops from IED blasts
Challenge: The trigger mechanisms used to initiate the IED are often adapted from commercial products. DASA’s Invisible Shield competition sought to find solutions that could disable IED trigger mechanisms safely.
Outcome: Successful bids came from Defence Prime Contractors, Academic Institutions, Government bodies, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Micro-SMEs. 33% of the £1.5 million total funding was shared between four SMEs and Micro-SMEs, boosting projects as diverse as RF signal detection, novel heatsinking techniques and the development of deconfliction filter units.
Dr Peter Wilkins, Innovation Partner, South East Region
"The 14 projects funded demonstrated the brilliance of small and medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs, developing technology that delivers life-saving protection against IEDs, while being adaptable to operate in an increasingly congested electromagnetic spectrum. The South East is home to a brilliant mix of some of the UK's most strategic large defence suppliers, lots of equally dedicated, imaginative and inventive smaller organisations, and a significant number of universities, all generating new ideas and applying them to the defence and security of the UK. It's been a privilege to advise some of these organisations, and it's great to see an idea develop, with DASA funding and support, towards a capability that could save lives and project the UK's interests. I'm constantly impressed by the quality of the people within my region and the ideas they generate.”
July 2020
Making surgery safer on the battlefield
Challenge: The traumatic injuries sustained during military operations require increasingly complex medical treatment.
The golden hour is the period of time following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical and surgical treatment will prevent death. Due to the nature of the future battlefield, transit times from point of wounding to traditional deployed medical facilities may lead to golden hour targets not being achieved.
The British Army asked DASA to help them better understand the current market capability for the provision of small, rapidly deployable, mobile surgical facilities to stabilise patients before providing onward transport.
Outcome: DASA received 13 completed capability submissions from 10 different organisations. We were able to direct the Dstl and Army Customers to potentially untapped sources of R&D from a healthy and diverse range of suppliers, with many solutions being engineered to customer specifications.
Clare Green, Innovation Partner, East of England
"I am delighted to be the new Innovation Partner for the East of England. I look forward to building on our successes and working with innovators who are addressing vital challenges in patient stabilisation and identifying further areas where they can support Defence and Security. DASA has funded some truly exciting and ground breaking ideas from the region and the rich seam of innovation and expertise has supported a pipeline of fantastic ideas for UK defence and security customers.”
August 2020
Enhancing explosive device detection
Challenge: In August 2020, DASA launched a competition that sought proposals from industry and academia to find state of the art and technological solutions to screen people, possessions, goods, vehicles, areas and buildings for the improved detection of explosives, weapons and illicit drugs.
Outcome: Moderators assessed 50 bids, of which 14 were funded. 66% of the total funding (more than £500,000) was shared between eight SMEs and Micro-SMEs. Novel ideas to address the problem included the use of X-Ray, radar and spectroscopy devices to detect body-worn, bag-carried or vehicle-borne IEDs.
Ralph Wilkins, Innovation Partner, London
“As Innovation Partner for London I have the privilege of knowing that there are over 200,000 new businesses emerging on average every year in my region. Through start up showcases, investor events, and my own strategic networks I get to see the latest disruptive technologies as they emerge and help them identify opportunities to boost the security of the UK. It's hugely satisfying seeing a company or academic get DASA funding to develop a kernel of an idea into a capability for UK defence or security that would not have existed otherwise for another 5-10 years."
September 2020
Leading on novel man machine technology
Challenge: In September, DASA and Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) sought innovative and novel solutions to assist military drone operators to improve usability in challenging and complex urban operations.
Outcome: DASA made £900,000 available for proposals that could help the Ministry of Defence overcome three challenges: The development of a suitable optimised Unmanned Air System, develop a human-controlled lethal payload, and demonstrate a full Unmanned Air System with an integrated payload.
Jonathan Jones, Innovation Partner, North West Region
“DASA has become a key member of the innovation community in the North West and is instrumental in both bringing fresh ideas into defence and security as well as supporting innovators in accessing funding and support to bring their ideas to life. DASA supports the UK’s levelling up agenda by ensuring that innovators of all shapes and sizes understand the opportunities available with DASA and wider MOD and have fair and equal access to our competitions and support. It is highly rewarding to be exposed to the rich tapestry of innovation on offer in the North West and the chance to pull this through to positively impact the UK’s Defence and Security is extremely fulfilling.”
October 2020
Mitigating the risk of windfarms to radar
Challenge: The development of Offshore Wind in the UK has supported domestic energy demands and contributed to the decrease in cost of low-carbon generation technology.
However offshore windfarms in the line of sight of radar, can have a detrimental effect for military air defence and air traffic control systems. By guaranteeing essential defence communications are not affected, more wind farms can be built, creating a greener and more technologically sustainable Britain in record time.
Outcome: The £2m competition, funded by BEIS, awarded funding to six projects which included using machine learning to remove windfarm-induced artefacts from radar, and improving radar absorption properties on the turbine blades themselves with new composite coatings.
Andrew Peaty, Innovation Partner, West Midlands Region
“This is a big step forward in exploiting innovative technologies to support both UK defence and the government’s efforts to do more to fight climate change. The defence industry has been well represented in the Midlands for over 70 years-it has good connections which it puts to good use at the yearly Three Counties Defence and Security Expo, a major regional show incorporating local suppliers and regional government representatives, including DASA representatives.”
November 2020
Shooting for the stars
Challenge: DASA’s International Space Pitch Day marked several international firsts for military innovation. 15 tech start-ups pitched their projects in front of a global audience.
Outcome: Ten organisations from Australia, India, the UK and the USA secured same-day contracts to fast-track the development of their innovations after pitching directly to UK, US, and NATO military leaders. It was the first time two countries have together to award defence contracts based around a pitch style event.
It is also the first time two nations have awarded joint defence innovation contracts to an overseas-based enterprise in this way. And it is the first time same-day contracts have been awarded in this way to industry by the UK Ministry of Defence.
Dr Tony Collins, Innovation Partner, DASA International
“The global innovation eco-system is tremendously exciting, ranging from the innovation hot-spots of North America, covering the areas of excellence of our Five Eyes and NATO partners, and reaching into the innovation in emerging powerhouses like India. This gives DASA true global reach into the world's most exciting innovations such as space technologies which have the potential to significantly improve operational defence and security capabilities of the UK and its allies. Over the next year Space Command is likely to become better placed to collaborate on a near-equal footing with US counterparts."
December 2020
Commercialising innovators' defence solutions
Challenge: DASA competitions focus on funding innovative ideas that have not yet been proven, and getting them to a stage where the innovators can demonstrate their capability. But our involvement does not end there if we want these innovations to become ready for defence and security procurement.
Outcome: DASA hosted more than 45 investors at our virtual Investment Showcase, with 14 companies presenting their innovative business opportunities for investment. They demonstrated DASA-funded technologies in the fields of: Cyber, Analysis and Training Software, Medical Software and Scanning, Advanced Materials, Drones and Drone Software.
Alan Scrase, Access to Mentoring and Finance Lead
“DASA’s Access to Mentoring and Finance (A2MF) service builds the business behind the innovation. We support SMEs to hone their businesses and bid for funding to take them to this next stage. We provide a smart brokerage into the many UK providers of SME support and funding. DASA has three regionally based Access to Mentoring and Finance partners to deliver this work. The A2MF service enables the most innovative ideas to get into the hands of end users much more quickly. In 2021 A2MF set up new Defence Innovation Loans, as part of a wider £32.6m Alternative Innovation Funding Models package, to help provide long term funding to convert mature innovation ideas into a strong business proposition for defence procurement.”
January 2021
Demonstrating swarming drone capability
Challenge: Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) are currently in widespread use with a range of defence and security users around the world. Current operational systems require at least one, but typically two or more operators to either directly pilot the aircraft or to closely manage the mission flown by an individual aircraft as well as manage aircraft sensors.
We realised that the ability to employ a swarm of UAS (considered to be 10 to 20 aircraft in the context of this competition) operating in a co-ordinated and closely coupled fashion to achieve a common goal could be of great benefit to defence.
Outcome: A swarm of 20 drones completed the largest collaborative, military focused evaluation of swarming uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the UK. This could support lower operating costs, increased system efficiency and effectiveness as well as increased overall system survivability and resilience.
Jas Shanker, Innovation Partner, East Midlands Region
“Drone technology is a prime example of the exciting innovations we are supporting in this region. Early engagement from academia and industry has been positive with the number of new suppliers working with DASA growing. Based on early strategy review outputs we’ve recognised there is so much more the region has to offer than we’ve previously unearthed. The county of Lincolnshire has a significant MOD presence, so our engagement with the newly created Greater Lincolnshire Defence & Security Board as well as the University of Lincoln, Local Enterprise Partnership and many existing and new businesses is already showing promise.”
February 2021
Improving wet-gap crossing capability
Challenge: When advancing into enemy territory, the military needs to be able to cross obstacles such as rivers, canals and streams. Any form of obstacle crossing slows tempo, but wide wet gaps are perhaps the most challenging. In February 2021, DASA launched phase 2 of Map the Gap – a competition to develop autonomous survey systems to help troops safely and stealthily advance over water.
Outcome: Three small and medium-sized businesses were awarded Phase 2 funding to fast-track their innovative solutions and test with the British Army. It is hoped that these solutions may replace the need to send Royal Engineer reconnaissance troops to survey both banks of a river – exposing them to danger which also risks compromising the rest of the operation.
Anna Taylor, Innovation Partner, North East Region
“Engagement with innovators has stepped up right across the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber in the last year. In particular DASA has seen some fantastic innovative ideas emerging from universities across the region, and has had excellent levels of engagement with SMEs and micro organisations. DASA has funded some truly exciting and ground breaking ideas from the region and the rich seam of innovation and expertise has supported a pipeline of fantastic ideas for UK defence and security customers. I look forward to engaging with innovators in the region in the year ahead.”
March 2021
Seeking next generation underwater capabilities
Challenge: The Royal Navy is looking for technologies ready for on-platform testing and validation which can help to innovate for the next generation of underwater capabilities. Their XLUUV platform is used to understand potential capabilities of autonomous vehicles and will test sensors and payloads in a range of scenarios.
Outcome: DASA received 15 proposals, of which seven will be funded. 33% of the funding will go to SMEs and Micro-SMEs in the North East, London and the South West. The innovative technologies will be tested, providing insight into the potential and limitations of unmanned underwater capabilities. This will help the Royal Navy to shape future requirements and design future capabilities and concepts of operation.
Mike Madden, Innovation Partner, South West Region
“DASA plays a hugely important role as part of the UK’s thriving innovation ecosystem, and we bring innovators along with us to solve national defence and security challenges. The range of innovations I see is incredible, and I start every day with a degree of excitement and anticipation about what I’ll come across. I am particularly proud to be serving the South West of England, my home patch, and it is rewarding to see innovators in my region succeed.”
Case Study: Fighting misinformation
Modern technology, the internet, and social media have been a catalyst for major change in defence and security. As well as fighting on the ground, armies and governments must also win the battle for hearts and minds. This becomes increasingly difficult when adversaries employ more complex tactics to spread misinformation. News, especially fake news, travels fast, so it is imperative that war fighters are prepared for battle in the digital world.
Conducttr began in the entertainment industry, creating augmented and immersive reality for TV and film fans. Following two rounds of DASA funding, the business now focuses solely on providing immersive 'life-like' training for influence and information warfare. Their technology provides a comprehensive real-time simulated information environment for social media and news and models target audience reactions.
The additional funding has already led to considerable impact for the business. Since their first round of DASA funding, Conducttr has doubled their staff headcount and expanded their portfolio, gaining the attention of big-name clients, including Vodafone, UEFA and the United Nations.
“Many of our customers are not aware of the possibilities of the technology before we meet them. DASA gave us the opportunity to work alongside potential end-users so we were able to gain a first-hand understanding of their requirements. This gave us invaluable insights to create something truly leading edge and world-beating.”
Robert Pratten, CEO of Conducttr
These opportunities have allowed Conducttr to further develop their product for defence and security use whilst also highlighting its potential to strengthen government response to crises such as cyber attacks, pandemics, flooding, earthquakes, terrorist threats, and other major incidents.
Innovation for a Safer Future: DASA Strategy 2021-2024
Our new strategy sets out our vision to support the UK in maintaining and sustaining our strategic advantage through providing access to the most innovative defence and security capabilities in the world.
We have refreshed our objectives, which are to:
• Be an exemplar innovation organisation that promotes best practice across Government, and seeks to build on its experience and learning.
• Strengthen and broaden links to innovators across the UK and elsewhere, attracting the best innovative ideas for defence and security.
• Collaborate with customers across HM Government to find innovative solutions to National Security challenges.
• Focus effort on increasing the pull through of innovative ideas, supporting the exploitation and commercialisation of solutions into capability
Case Study: VR training for the armed forces
Team training is an important element of the defence training landscape. It is often one of the more difficult forms of training to deliver in an effective and cost-efficient way because of the need to train multiple individuals at the same time whilst also identifying and addressing the needs of each individual without impacting the rest of the team.
SimCentric, is a veteran-run technology company focused on transforming training, safety, and operational decision making through innovation. In 2020, DASA awarded the company £300,000 through the Open Call for Innovation (Rapid Impact), to improve training for personnel, making it more realistic, intuitive and immersive, while lowering the costs.
The simulator, which can be used by over 30 personnel at once, uses intuitive gesture control designed to match real actions on the battlefield. HD surround sound and highly realistic visuals bring to life training scenarios tailored for VR interaction. The gaming tech is from Epic Games – the developers of the popular online video game, Fortnite.
Rather than click a mouse while sitting at a desk, personnel hold a ‘gun’ and crouch and crawl when necessary, just as they would on a real-life exercise. They can practice this virtual exercise as many times as needed before going into the field for real, preparing them more effectively for operational deployments.
Trials have taken place with the Parachute Regiment, the RAF Regiment, and the Royal Marines. These tests have proven that Immersive Reality technologies have the potential to transform training within the UK MOD, providing affordable and effective capability that bridges the gap between synthetic and live training.
The trials with the RAF Regiment were featured on BBC Click in February 2021.
It’s incredibly real, so real that you sort of lose all situational awareness of the outside and you’re solely focused on the moment that you’re in.
Lt. Henry Dufosee Royal Marines’ 40 Commando Alpha Company
Next Steps
We are expanding our reach into the security domain, strengthening our partnerships with colleagues across security departments through launching a new Security Rapid Impact Open Call which will enhance our ability to find and fund innovative solutions to security problems.
Defence Innovation Loans are being launched in 2021 with a £10 million fund available in the first year to help innovators take their products to market.
We will use funding awarded via the Spending Review to set up new alternative innovation funding models, including a new Defence and Security Seed Fund, a 1st Customer Fund and new Regional partnerships programmes.
We are welcoming new Innovation Partners to the DASA team, who can support innovators throughout the UK and around the world.
DASA places greater emphasis on the wider commercial attractiveness of ideas, working with competition sponsors to ensure there is a clear plan for exploitation by potential end users.
Conclusion
We are still living through the COVID-19 pandemic and are proud of the contributions DASA has made to help bring innovative solutions to UK government to help with this crisis. DASA will continue to be impactful in our post pandemic world.
It is an exciting time for defence and security innovation. There are huge implications for DASA emerging from the Integrated Review, the Defence Command Paper and the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy, and we are well placed to meet these challenges.
DASA continues to grow and evolve, building on past successes and maximising the impact of our investments.
We intend to be the best in the world, delivering