It will take place in London at De Vere Canary Wharf, 9:30am to 4:00pm.

Head of Operations at CDE, Jim Pennycook, will introduce CDE and give an overview of proof-of-concept research funding opportunities for innovative science and technology providers. View the presentation slides.

CDE will launch a themed competition for fully funded contracts (a total of £1 million available) on ‘automating cyber defence responses’. View the presentation slides.

In addition, Military Advisers and technical experts from Dstl (the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) will give an overview of some areas where innovative research ideas are sought for CDE’s ongoing enduring challenge competition.View the presentation slides.

Bruce Hardie, CDE’s Technology Manager, will talk about how to create an effective proposal for CDE funding. View the presentation slides.

There will be a number of guest briefings:

Stephen Porteous from MOD, will brief on the new Cyber Security Model and there will be opportunities to discuss the model with him and provide your feedback. Stephen says:

“Under direction from the Secretary of State for Defence and the Defence Suppliers’ Forum, MOD will introduce the requirement for contractual compliance to a new cyber security framework, known as the Cyber Security Model, from next year.

The Cyber Security Model is being introduced to ensure that adequate levels of protection are applied to data and information generated from work placed through MOD contracts.

The model includes question sets which can be used to establish the maturity of a company’s approach to cyber security and we would like to give those attending the CDE Innovation Network event an early sight of these questions. The aim of this is to ensure they are understandable, meaningful and applicable to defence small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This is a unique opportunity to influence government policy that will affect all of the defence supply chain in the near future, so please provide as much feedback as possible.” View the presentation slides.

Matt Lewis, CEO,Project4 Technologies Ltd – a successful SME’s perspective of working with CDE. View the presentation slides.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – Research and Development (R&D) tax relief reduces the cost of qualifying R&D expenditure by around 25% for an SME and 8% for a large company. Get guidance from HMRC on making your claim. View the presentation slides

You’ll be able to pre-book a face-to-face meeting with CDE, Dstl and military experts to discuss your potential proposal to either the enduring challenge competition or one of the themed competitions.

You’ll also have the opportunity to meet other potential bidders, current Dstl suppliers, CDE, Dstl and military experts, and see examples of successful CDE projects.

Presentation slides will be published after the event.

About CDE

CDE funds novel, high-risk, high-potential-benefit research. We work with the broadest possible range of science and technology providers, including academia and small companies, to develop cost-effective capabilities for UK armed forces and national security.

CDE is part of Dstl.