Opportunities with Defence – Ocean Business

This event will be held during Ocean Business at the NOC.  You must register for Ocean Business to attend this event.

Wednesday 9 April | 13:30-15:30 |W2/40 (NOC Innovations) | Free to attend

How can commercial technologies and services be applied in defence?

Join us for a session focused on the defence procurement pipeline and how collaboration for innovation supports national security.

Defence has the ambition to ensure the UK continues to have competitive, world-class industries that underpin our national security, drive investment and prosperity, and contribute to the UK’s strategic advantage through science and technology.

As the Procurement Act comes into force and the Strategic Defence Review is published what are the key opportunities in supplying defence and what support is available?

Host – Sharon Jones, Regional Lead, Maritime Enterprise Engagement

Sharon joined the Royal Navy’s Maritime Enterprise Engagement team in 2023; tasked with extending activity from the Solent Maritime Enterprise Zone to national engagement. She now sits within the London and Eastern England Regional Headquarters. In this role she builds the innovation ecosystem through engagement with industry, academia and Government, upskills around social value and coheres Maritime Enterprise Engagement activity.

Named as one of the Telegraph’s Top 50 Women in Engineering (Returners and Transferrers) in 2018, Sharon is passionate about the opportunities of emerging technologies and the importance of leveraging these to solve problems. In her spare time she continues to learn more about additive manufacturing, historic postboxes and goat-keeping.

Keynote Speaker – Claire Budden, Deputy Director, Navy Commercial

Claire was previously the Navy Head of Procurement which included working closely with a number of teams across the Command to drive strategic developments and getting to grips with the drivers behind many of our programmes.

A commercial solicitor by background Claire has over 20 years’ experience supporting stakeholders in getting results from their commercial arrangements across the acquisition lifecycle. She has worked in a number of sectors in private practice within the city in addition to considerable experience within local/central government schemes and supporting NHS trust where she also undertook responsibility for wider corporate governance.

Claire is excited about the opportunities that AI, automation and developments through corporate services modernisation can bring to the Commercial team to free up capacity enabling us to focus our efforts on real value add activities that we can offer to customers.

Funding Innovation, DASA

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) finds, funds and fast tracks innovative ideas that benefit HM Armed Forces and National Security. DASA runs funding competitions and offers business support activities including higher TRL and alternative funding. The DASA Team will present on the opportunities available to organisations including the current AukUS competition.

Commercialising Innovation – Ned Vardey, Senior Commercialisation Manager, Ploughshare

Ned joined Ploughshare as a Senior Commercialisation Manager in 2024. He is an analytical, commercially-minded programme manager and change agent with a diverse range of international experience in a variety of industries. Ned has managed cross-functional teams and executed data driven projects in process optimisation, strategy and operations. He advised and coached operations from shop floor to board level on leveraging change opportunities, business justifications and change implementations.

Frameworks – Crown Commercial

Threat and Opportunity – Royal Navy Presentation Team