DASA boosts regional innovation network

 Defence and Accelerator has realigned its regionally-based Innovation Partners to reflect UK economic regions to boost opportunities and prosperity

From: Defence and Security Accelerator

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has realigned its Innovation Partner network to reflect the widely recognised economic regions of the United Kingdom used across Government and the private sector.

It is hoped that this change will make DASA’s

presence across the UK easier to understand and access by innovators in business and academia, as well as by Government partners.

The move will help DASA to improve its reach across the entire country, increasing opportunities for organisations of all shapes and sizes, and boosting national prosperity.

Innovation Partners are regionally based and available to give advice to any organisation about their ideas and how they can best engage with DASA to obtain UK Government funding to develop their innovations. All of our Innovation Partners are civil servants and they will protect your Intellectual Property. Your correspondence and any discussions will be in strict confidence.

Ben Whitaker, DASA Outreach Lead, said:

“As DASA continues to expand, the need to align with a more recognised system was evident. The UK Economic regions are familiar to the majority, if not all, of our key stakeholders.

This small change will ensure that DASA continues to represent innovators from across the UK and can more easily understand and articulate our regional impact.

The 12 regions of the UK are:

• East of England
• East Midlands
• London
• North East
• North West
• Northern Ireland
• Scotland
• South East
• South West
• Wales
• West Midlands
• Yorkshire & the Humber

DASA also has an Innovation Partner covering international organisations (non-UK based).

DASA is also pleased to welcome Jas Shanker who joins as the Innovation Partner for the East Midlands. He said:

It is an exciting time to be joining DASA – whilst the current climate has given us challenges that need to be addressed, we need to work in a different way to get workable ideas converted into meaningful results.

We need to build on our rich history of innovating to find, fund, and exploit ideas, and to this end, I am excited to be working with the East Midlands community.

Contact a DASA Innovation Partner

Innovation Partners, are available to give advice to suppliers about their ideas and how they can best engage with DASA. Please follow the online guidance to contact your regional representative.