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An introduction to CDE, as delivered at the Innovation Networking Event
CDE provides funding opportunities through competitions to support technology innovation in defence and security. It aims to engage innovators from academia and industry, including SMEs, and funds projects from early research through development and commercialization. Since 2008, CDE has funded over 1000 proposals with £72.6 million, with a 17% success rate. Interested parties can get involved by visiting the CDE website or social media channels.
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An introduction to CDE, as delivered at the Innovation Networking Event
- 1. Introduction to CDE InnovationNetwork event 17 November 2016 CDE Technology Manager
- 2. Technology changes fast Photocredit: www.perspecsys.com via Flickr under Creative Commons
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- 8. Minimise cost toparticipate
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- 11. Technology innovation Uptake / commercialisation Pre-commercial development 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Experimental research Technology implementation Applied research Curiosity- driven research Original idea Capability Technology readiness level (TRL)
- 12. CDE competition space Phase1 TRL 7 TRL 2 Phase 2 TRL 3 TRL 4 TRL 5 TRL 6
- 13. Enduring Themed CDE competitions up to£3 million per year at least £500,000 per competition
- 14. Defence and SecurityAccelerator Themed competitions – to continue Enduring competition - paused 25 October 2016 Relaunch early 2017 Accelerator competitions
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- 17. How has CDEperformed?
- 18. Since 2008… £££ Total funding £72.6M 1053 Proposalsfunded 17% Success rate Proportions of funds Academia Large/ Prime SMEs Proposals received 6399
- 19. Get involved w: gov.uk/dstl/cde e:cde@dstl.gov.uk follow Dstl, join CDE group @dstlmod #DstlCDE
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Editor's Notes
- #2 Hello and welcome back. I’m the Technology Manager at CDE. I’m here to give an overview of what CDE is all about and how we work. This should useful if you’re new to CDE and want to understand more about us and the opportunities we offer.
- #3 As you’ve heard this morning, CDE was set up because we want to access the best technology innovation for MOD. The military used to be the ‘cutting edge’ of technology development. Things are very different now. Ever-growing consumer markets are driving a faster pace of technology change that Defence Ministries can’t control or compete with. This can present a threat because our adversaries can match (or surpass) expensive Defence capabilities with relatively cheap ‘off-the-shelf’ items So it’s vital that we develop a better understanding of non-Defence market technology developments that could impact on, or be relevant to, Defence. CDE can help MOD to access these sorts of ideas.
- #4 But it’s not just defence, we want to source the best technology for defence and security. From the best providers, and with no barriers to entry. We have run competitions on behalf of the security agencies. This provides you, as bidders, with more market opportunity. But Defence remains the major drive for us – defence is the major source of funding.
- #5 CDE has been in operation since May 2008. It has a base in Harwell, Oxfordshire, and it started with 3 people and a tiny rented office. Just like a SME!
- #6 Five key operating principles underpin the CDE model, and we believe the consistent application of these day-to-day is the reason for our continued success. I’ll now go through each of these in turn.
- #7 The first of these is that we’re all about engaging with innovators. We want to attract the best sources of technology innovation for defence and security, so CDE works with the broadest possible range of science and technology providers and provide an entry point for those new to defence. CDE particularly aims to remove barriers for small and medium sized enterprises (or SMEs) to enter the defence supply chain. We provide awareness of challenges and needs for defence and security, and to support you, we offer the opportunity to network at our events. We try to bring together potential bidders from small companies and academia with the with big players in the defence industry and MOD and Military experts. And CDE competitions provide on-going opportunities for bidders. Many small companies we’ve worked with have been successful in a number of our competitions, and formed new collaborative relationships as a result.
- #8 The second principle is that we provide fully funded opportunities. We never offer an opportunity without having funding available. And it’s 100% funding. There’s no need for match funding. We typically fund proposals for proof-of-concept research in the range of £40,000 to £100,000 for work of 3 to 9 months for the first phase of work (we call this phase 1). All of our competitions are fair and accessible to all innovation providers. The are only run at an ‘official’ level, so there’s no restriction on only security-cleared organisations bidding. CDE competitions are open to all.
- #9 The 3rd principle of CDE is to minimise the participation costs faced by potential innovation providers to the lowest possible level. It’s the same bidding process, the same assessment criteria, the same contracting terms and conditions across ALL CDE competitions. It’s a one-off investment in understanding the ‘rules of the game’ which keeps bidding costs as low as we possibly can. You can read about CDE standard terms and conditions on our website, and you need to accept these up front before you create and submit your proposal to us. We also plan to begin trialling a simplified and easier to understand contract. You’ll soon be able to choose this short-form contract as an option when you create your proposal. We will provide all the information you need to know when the trial begins
- #10 Principle number 4 is that we have a healthy appetite for risk. CDE is unusual in that it is a government team charged with taking risk. You simply can’t be in the innovation business if you’re risk adverse. We fund new start-ups with no history We fund technologies for which MOD has no formal requirement We’re prepared for failure of individual projects, BUT we want to FAIL FAST and FAIL CHEAP
- #11 And finally, number 5 is our benevolent stance on intellectual property. Our competitions use DEFCON 705 as the contracting term for intellectual property. It means that you, the bidders, retain all of the background and foreground IP associated with your innovation. We retain a ‘right of use’ over the foreground IP – the IP generated from the work that we fund. But you need to understand what that means and become familiar with Defcon705, so check out our website for details. And talk to Commercial while you’re here today. These terms enable you to exploit your IP generated from the work done via the CDE contract in not only the defence market but also wider markets outside of defence and security.
- #12 So what sort of work does CDE fund? You may have already heard a bit about ‘technology readiness levels’ (or TRLs). TRLs are a technology management tool that provides a measurement to assess the maturity of evolving technology. You can read more detail about the exact descriptions of each level on our website. Here you can see the full technology innovation lifecycle. The CDE mechanism fits in in the middle. We don’t fund very early-stage research, and we don’t fund commercial product development.
- #13 Here you can see the sort of space we’re in. The CDE part is in blue. For phase-1 CDE competitions we’re looking for ideas that are already at TRL 2 to 3, and we’ll fund work to take those ideas to a higher TRL, ideally around TRL 4. At phase 2, (and entry into phase 2 is only from being successful at phase 1) we’re looking to take technologies up to TRL 6. We want the best ideas that successfully complete an initial proof-of-concept package of work, to go on to further development and future exploitation to realise their potential capability benefit.
- #14 So how can you access CDE funding? This is a reminder of the routes to CDE funding. Firstly, our series of themed competitions. One of which you may have heard about this morning – ‘the future of aviation security’. Each themed competition usually has a phase-1 budget of at least £500,000. We’ve started to put in place defined phase-2 budgets too, to take successful projects forward for future development. Themed competitions are bound in terms of an allocated budget, a defined challenge or set of challenges, and the timeframe in which you have to submit. The second route to CDE funding is our continually open ‘enduring competition’. This has a budget of up to £3 million per year. You can submit a proposal to this at any time, and there’s a set of 9 enduring challenges for you to submit your ideas against, and give you some guidance on the sorts of things we’re looking for.
- #15 Im sure you will all be pleased to know that the themed competitions we offer in CDE will continue to be central to the offerings of the Accelerator. Indeed if there are any changes it will be that they will offer a bigger and better range of funding opportunities! You will remember that following Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Michael Fallon announcement on 16 September 2016 we took the decision to pause the Enduring competition on 25 October 2016 in order to The Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) will pause the Enduring Competition on 25 October 2016 at 5pm, while the CDE transitions into the early operating capability of the new Defence and Security Accelerator - reshape its framework, scope and back office support to meet this remit. I can tell you that this work is progressing well and it remains our intent to re-launch this competition early in 2017 and also to offer a wider range of funding opportunities – so watch out on the new Accelerator website for more details!! [NEXT SLIDE]
- #16 CDE works to help you identify those routes to market if you’re successfully funded. Your technical partner will support you through your project, and CDE can help to link you up with the established defence industry and investors.
- #17 The only way to access CDE funding is to submit a proposal. And the only way to do that is through our online submission service. This is still a relatively new service, having launched at the end of 2015, and it’s receiving excellent feedback. The site itself is very intuitive so you shouldn’t have any problems in understanding what you need to do. However, it’s really important that you get the right quality into your bid. Please listen to my colleague, Bruce Hardie’s presentation later this afternoon, for really useful advice on the information you need to include to create a great proposal.
- #18 And finally from me, some highlights on CDE has performed in it’s 8 years of operation…
- #19 More that 2/3rds of CDE contracts go to SME’s and innovators within academia.
- #20 (CLICK) These are the ways you can get involved and find out more about CDE.
- #21 You can also sign up for alerts on our website – GOV.UK/DSTL/CDE (click) – so you can be sure never to miss out on a new announcement from us.
- #22 Thanks very much for listening - I’m happy to take any questions now!