SWRDSC is excited to announce the details of the SWRDSC Defence Showcase Event at the Defence BattleLab, hosted by Dorset Council and Dorset Innovation Park. Designed to bring together the region’s leading innovators, industry partners, and government stakeholders.
Recent survey feedback shows exceptionally strong interest across the SWRDSC membership, with the network expressing a clear appetite for an event that blends domain expertise, emerging technologies, and practical demonstrations. Members highlighted Automation, Decision Advantage, and cross‑domain integration as priority themes, alongside a strong desire for operationally relevant content and opportunities to engage directly with MOD, primes, SMEs, and academia.
Event Structure and Running Order
The current plan is that the Showcase will follow a programme designed to maximise insight, collaboration, and visibility.
- Featuring thematic discussions aligned to UKDI priorities, exploring the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of defence. These are likely to feature throughout the day, breaking away from the traditional back-to-back presentations of previous agendas.
- Member‑led panel sessions, made up of key stakeholders, providing opportunities for businesses to demonstrate how their technologies and capabilities address specific, real‑world problems within the UK defence sector.
- Running throughout the event will be a Defence Capability Exhibition, providing a platform for businesses to showcase product and innovations to a broad defence audience. The Showcase will also include opportunities for live capability demonstrations, enabling members to illustrate how their solutions perform in practice and how they address real operational challenges. These will be weather permitting, subject to space and health and safety restrictions.
The programme is designed to offer a balanced mix of presentations, demonstrations, and structured networking formats, including talks and thematic meeting zones, to support meaningful collaboration and supply‑chain development.
Participation for SWRDSC Members
SWRDSC members will be invited to take part in the Showcase through an expression of interest process. This will allow members to propose:
- Alignment with the day’s themes
- Product showcases
- Panel contributions
To ensure a coherent and impactful day, participation will be curated based on theme alignment, relevance to UK defence challenges, and overall fit within the event structure.
Given the strong survey response, priority will be given to submissions that align with the two leading themes*:
- Automation (UAVs, UGVs, UUVs, swarm technologies, autonomy)
- Decision Advantage (AI/ML, cyber, C2, communications, data‑driven capability)
This approach ensures that the Showcase reflects both member strengths and the strategic priorities identified by the defence community.
*Although these will be the primary themes for the day and will guide exhibition allocation, a limited number of spaces will also be available for other areas or UKDI themes to ensure we showcase the full breadth of regional capability.
A Platform for Regional Capability
The SWRDSC Defence Showcase Event will serve as a platform to highlight the South West’s world‑class defence capabilities and strengthen connections across the UK’s defence ecosystem. By combining thematic insight, practical demonstrations, and curated networking, the event will support innovation, collaboration, and supply‑chain growth across the region.
LINKS HAVE GONE OUT TO ALL MEMBERS.