UK Defence Industry Growth & Resilience
Zone

A panel of investors and industry leaders discussing whether private capital and government investment are flowing fast enough to meet growth ambitions.

A fireside chat with a defence SME founder on the journey from small supplier to strategic partner, and the decisions that mattered most along the way.

A panel of regional cluster leads discussing how defence-related growth and jobs are being spread more widely across the UK, as defence spend rises from £54bn to almost £80bn a year by 2029 and nearly 60,000 extra industry jobs are forecast by the end of the decade — with the SME Action Plan placing the UKDI-administered Regional Defence and Security Clusters at the heart of how it will deliver SME growth through local networks.

With the MOD's SME Action Plan now published (July 2026) and led by the Defence Office for Small Business Growth, this session audits progress against the headline promise: an additional £2.5bn of SME spend by summer 2028 — a 50% increase on top of the current ~£5bn baseline — with direct spend alone targeted to rise from £1.24bn to £2bn a year, measured against the plan's four strategic objectives.

An honest look at the scale of the UK defence sector's skills shortage, and how universities, further education colleges, Make UK and apprenticeship and retraining initiatives are working together to close it.

A sponsor-led look at the five Defence Growth Deals, backed by £250m over five years, now live in Plymouth, South Yorkshire, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and where the next wave of deals might land.

A practical look at fresh growth capital routes for defence SMEs opened up by the National Wealth Fund and British Business Bank, and how to access them — as the SME Action Plan commits to deepening relationships with venture capital and high-street banks and to confirming that ESG rules should not hinder defence finance, alongside a £4bn national finance boost for smaller firms.

A sponsor-led session on the new Defence Technical Excellence Colleges in Plymouth, Yeovil, Lincoln, Blackpool and Rotherham, part of a £182m skills package aimed at supporting nearly 60,000 new jobs by 2029/30.