The opportunity to work in a unique and independent partnership between the UK Government and the UK Defence Industry was the huge pull in joining the organisation and since working here for the past 15 months I have been able to see the defence industry from a whole new perspective. Working in the pre-competitive stage and engaging with the entire breadth of the UK value chain, like no other organisation has before, is both fascinating and challenging. The work we are undertaking here at the UKDSC is truly ground breaking for the industry.
The joy of working in a small agile organisation is that there is always something new to get involved in which comes with real responsibility. We may be a small organisation of around 25 employees, most of whom are secondees from different defence companies, but it has resulted in a unique environment, bringing together industry experts and creating the platform for some truly innovative work.
As part of the Market Intelligence team, we work on a number of projects across a number of different countries which makes every day here at the UKDSC different. One of the work strands that the team and I are responsible for are producing threat based market reports across a number of key strategic markets identifying opportunities for UK industry. At the UKDSC, instead of analysing countries from a UK perspective, we are analysing them using future scenarios over the next 15 years to explore what opportunities may come out as a result of different threats. All this analysis is then put in our Market Intelligence Cell which is free to use for the wider UK defence industry
What is the Market intelligence Cell? Well here at the UKDSC we are growing a database containing open source data, industry insights & external market analysis associated by Country, Capability or Theme. The Cell was open in September 2016 and will be progressively expanded during next 12 months. Work has been commissioned to progressively build a portfolio of countries that constitute core strategic markets. The Cell will allow UKDSC to develop an understanding of a broad spectrum of country needs across the global defence landscape which is available to the UK value chain.
How can you access the data? Using our ‘Engagement’ pages you can use our form online to get in touch with the UKDSC to arrange a slot to visit the MIC. We have seen a number of companies access the database over the last few months and we want to encourage more and more of the UK Value Chain to engage.
Merry Christmas all!
Chris Todd – Business Architect on secondment to the UKDSC from Thales
