In April, the UAS CDC hosted its first Industry Day themed “Small UAS and supporting MOD trials work”. In addition to the explicit theme, the day was used by the UAS CDC to brief attendees on its intent regarding future Industry engagement and how ‘third party’ support was integral to the UAS CDC’s delivery model for Defence.
With 16 organisations represented at the Industry Day, there were opportunities aplenty to network, discuss topics of the day pertaining to UAS CDC calls for support and generally get a feel for the “style” of engagement and working that the UAS CDC is seeking to emplace. In this latter regard, the day was interactive with Industry views actively sought to help better inform the UAS CDC in regards to both working with Industry and, thus, providing greater value to Defence.
In arranging this Industry Day, invitations were issued to all Open Supplier Register (OSR) registrants who had indicated a capability of Small UAS (section 8.1 on the OSR). It is the UAS CDC’s intent to stage more Industry Days, with some suggested themes already being currently considered by the Management Board. However, we do encourage Industry to approach us with suggestions for such sessions where hosted engagement (on whatever topic) would derive demonstrable benefits to both Defence and Industry. We look forward to hearing from you!
Feedback from the day itself was both positive and encouraging; the ‘voxpops’ below capturing the mood of the session.