Defence Nexus: A conversation between SMEs and Airbus

In 2017, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 27th as Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day (MSME), to raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development and the global economy (statistics below are from the UN website).

This June we are celebrating MSME Day by inviting defence facing companies to our Airbus site in Portsmouth. The day will be designed to facilitate discussion between SMEs and Airbus, covering topics such as working with Primes, the challenges SMEs face and other topics relating to the maritime domain. The intent is to develop a common understanding between all sides as to what the challenges are in effective working relationships, and importantly how we might overcome them.

There will be a huge amount of expertise and experience in the room on the day, both from Airbus and the companies in attendance. There will be presentations from the Head of Airbus Procurement and our tech accelerator ‘RED Hub’ (Research, Experimentation and Demonstration Hub) building a collaborative ecosystem with our suppliers and partners to respond rapidly to defence needs.