A briefing from the closing panel of the Scottish Defence Procurement and Supply Chain Summit, Glasgow
The closing panel of SDS turned to the part of the Scottish defence story arguably moving fastest: technology, dual-use, and the emerging domains of space, cyber and AI. Chaired by Tom Oldham of ADS Group, the discussion brought together five practitioners whose day-jobs span the full innovation chain – from a cyber trade body and a tier 1 prime, to a research-active university, to a founder who has walked the SME road into both UK and US defence customers.
The panel comprised:
- Tom Oldham, ADS Group (chair)
- Karen Meechan, CEO, ScotlandIS
- Ian Kennedy, QinetiQ
- Professor James Hopgood, University of Edinburgh
- Craig Clark, University of Strathclyde (founder of Clyde Space)
Tom Oldham opened by acknowledging that “dual-use” has become one of the most-used and least-defined terms in current defence policy. The panel’s job was to put real practitioner shape around it – to identify where the biggest opportunities for Scottish SMEs actually sit, and to be honest about the obstacles that still stand in the way.
Why “dual-use” matters now
Oldham set the context. Scotland’s digital and space sectors are among the fastest growing in the UK, and the line between civil technology and defence application has narrowed dramatically. Dual-use is no longer a tidy carve-out – it touches energy, materials science, propulsion, aerodynamics, data, autonomy and the wider digital stack. For Scottish SMEs sitting on commercially developed technology that suddenly has a credible defence application, the question is no longer whether to engage, but how.
The cyber and digital lens: trust is a long play
Karen Meechan, CEO of ScotlandIS, opened with a candid view from the Scottish cyber and digital community. ScotlandIS represents the trade body for the digital sector, with deep roots in data, cyber and managed services. Her message was unambiguous: defence is not a sector you walk into with an off-the-shelf product. “You’re not going in as an SME to a large defence contract directly. The defence market operates on its own. There is far more onus on trust and security – rightly so.”
Meechan’s practical advice was to change the narrative around your product or service so it speaks defence’s language – and to do that while working hard on the right connections. ScotlandIS, she noted, sits inside CENSIS, the Scottish Cyber Cluster and the wider Technology Scotland / DHI network, all of which exist precisely to help SMEs reach into primes, universities and government buyers. The cyber cluster itself has grown by over 200% – from 120 to more than 400 participating organisations – in the period since its launch.
“It’s not about expecting a defence contract tomorrow,” she said. “It’s about starting to make the connections now, understanding what the defence sector looks like, and where your product or service might fit.”
QinetiQ’s view: engage UK Defence Innovation early
Ian Kennedy of QinetiQ pointed straight at the structural change that should be making engagement easier. The stand-up of UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) – which incorporates the former DASA – has put a clearer “front door” on the system, with a published set of industrial challenges around difference, autonomy, decision-making, logistics and effects. Beneath those sit areas where Scotland is genuinely strong: AI, digital targeting, space, and the wider digital domain.
Kennedy’s advice for SMEs was to engage with the UKDI challenges directly, to be open about collaboration (“don’t be protective of your product or service”) and to be ready to co-develop with end users. He also flagged QinetiQ’s own range capability – “we have ranges in Scotland and across the UK, and we’ve set up specifically to support SMEs to come and test their work.” For SMEs trying to mature dual-use technology toward defence-grade trust, that access to test and trials infrastructure is critical.
The university view: capability, partnerships and the talent problem
Professor James Hopgood brought the academic perspective from the University of Edinburgh, and his framing was useful for SMEs and universities alike. Engagement with defence, he argued, starts with a clear answer to a simple question: why do you want to work in this space? “It might not just be about money. It might be about the capability you can contribute.”
Once that’s settled, the next step is the same one SMEs face: learning the language. Hopgood described his own route in via UKDI’s predecessor programmes, working with DSTL technical partners to understand what user requirements actually look like – not just what the technology can do.
Hopgood drew an explicit connection to the innovation pathways and EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training sitting inside Scottish universities, alongside the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) that can de-risk an SME’s first defence-relevant prototype. Universities, he said, can also bridge SMEs into otherwise hard-to-reach customers – running confidential conversations between DSTL, MOD and SMEs that might otherwise never connect.
But he ended on the bluntest warning of the panel – Scotland and the wider UK face a serious talent crunch. PhD numbers in the UK have fallen by over 25% in five years. The same skills defence needs – AI, machine learning, autonomy, advanced manufacturing – are now being pursued by DeepMind, Meta and Google with packages defence and government simply cannot match. “If you have DeepMind offering £300,000 for PhD students who are experts in the latest AI, we cannot compete. Companies will have to think about how you offer more attractive packages – and how we keep that capability in the UK.”
Craig Clark and the PRISM project: opening the door from the SME side
Craig Clark, founder of Clyde Space and now at the University of Strathclyde, brought the SME perspective – and the most concrete proposed solution of the afternoon. From his Clyde Space days he could point to many contracts won from US defence agencies – but, frustratingly, almost none from UK ones. The reasons were almost always structural: “How do you have a conversation about secure technology when you aren’t cleared to have the conversation? You don’t have the facility to respond to proposals. You can’t build anything at a secure level.”
The barrier, in other words, is not capability – it’s clearance, facilities and recognition. Clark argued strongly that part of the answer is for UK Government to help SMEs build the secure infrastructure they need to actually deliver defence-grade products and services.
That principle sits at the heart of the PRISM project at Strathclyde. Phase one is a secure service for planning and operations in central Glasgow – a facility from which SMEs in Scotland will be able to engage RFPs from defence agencies, respond securely, win work, and become a recognised part of the supply chain. “Right now,” Clark said, “UK defence agencies default to working with the universities and the primes because it’s easier. SMEs do the conferences, the presentations – and it never goes anywhere. We need to move on from that.”
Space, AI and processing at the edge
The space and AI thread ran clearly through the discussion. Clark and Kennedy both highlighted AI processing at the edge as one of the most consequential dual-use opportunities for Scotland. Today, roughly 90% of the data downlinked from space-based reconnaissance assets goes unprocessed. Future missions – civil and defence – will need to process intelligently in orbit and downlink only what matters. That is exactly the kind of capability where Scotland’s space, AI and digital strengths align with defence demand.
The wider ecosystem support is already moving. As Ian Kennedy noted, the National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) – a joint UK Space Agency / MOD facility – runs challenges through the Space Industry Action Group that are an excellent way for Scottish SMEs to start engaging. And the Defence Industrial Strategy’s investment in digital infrastructure, including secure data centres, will create further opportunities for Scottish companies to support that capability build-out.
The takeaway
The third panel of SDS made one truth unmistakable: Scotland already has the dual-use capability in cyber, space, AI and autonomy that UK defence increasingly needs. What it does not yet have – at scale – is the connecting tissue: cleared facilities for SMEs, faster routes through UKDI, a serious response to the talent drain, and a procurement machine that can move at the pace of the technology.
The good news is that the building blocks are starting to land. The PRISM project, UKDI’s challenge-led model, ScotlandIS’s cluster work, QinetiQ’s open ranges, and Edinburgh’s and Strathclyde’s research depth are all pointing the right way. The next 12 months – and the next Scottish Defence Summit – will tell us how quickly they can be stitched together.
The Scottish Defence Procurement and Supply Chain Summit was delivered by BIP Solutions in partnership with ADS Scotland. The DPRTE community continues the conversation between events at dprte.co.uk. Save the date for SDS27 – and bring the questions the sector most needs answered.
