Margrethe Vestager EU debates Action Plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries
- 3 years ago
Today we have adopted our first ever action plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries. https://www.eudebates.tv/events/galileo-europes-global-navigation-satellite-system/
As the global race for technological leadership is accelerating, this action plan aims to strengthen Europe's technological edge, and support its industrial base.
#eudebates #Vestager #civil #defence #space
It covers three priorities:
First: build new synergies among EU programmes and instruments so that disruptive technologies can find concrete uses across civil, defence and space industries;
Second: enable that defence and space technologies find concrete civil applications;
Third: facilitate the use of civil research and innovations into new European defence projects.
After working on ejector seats in fighter jets, Swedish mechanical engineer Nils Ivar Bohlin designed a new three-point seat belt for a European car company. Inspired by the four-point harness that jet pilots used, the three-point seat belt was developed and became a global standard in the car industry, saving over one million lives. More recently, new technologies developed to improve the analysis of satellite earth images are used to conduct early diagnosis of bladder cancer.
Those are a few examples to show what this Action Plan is all about: pulling together the strengths of civil, defence and space to boost innovation and deliver concrete societal benefits.
This is nothing new. For a long time we have seen technologies cross bridges between civil, space and defence. We have seen radio waves used in military labs end-up in kitchen ovens. And Velcro fasteners initially developed for daily clothes end-up in spaceships to hold objects against zero-gravity.
But this is a new endeavour for the European Union. For the first time, we will have substantial EU funding available for defence and related civilian technologies. This will allow us to build a systematic approach to create synergies across the defence, space and civil worlds. So that innovations can reach multiple uses, by design instead of by coincidence.
To do this, we start with the technology. We put all three sectors together - space, civil, defence - and ask ourselves: how can we make this technology relevant across those fields? How can we make smart use of this increased EU funding to make one innovation reach multiple uses for a wider benefit?
To answer this, we have come up with a new methodology, which starts with the identification of critical technologies relevant across the defence, space and civil industries. For instance Artificial Intelligence, smart sensors, quantum technologies or high-definition earth observation systems. We will update this list every second year.
As the global race for technological leadership is accelerating, this action plan aims to strengthen Europe's technological edge, and support its industrial base.
#eudebates #Vestager #civil #defence #space
It covers three priorities:
First: build new synergies among EU programmes and instruments so that disruptive technologies can find concrete uses across civil, defence and space industries;
Second: enable that defence and space technologies find concrete civil applications;
Third: facilitate the use of civil research and innovations into new European defence projects.
After working on ejector seats in fighter jets, Swedish mechanical engineer Nils Ivar Bohlin designed a new three-point seat belt for a European car company. Inspired by the four-point harness that jet pilots used, the three-point seat belt was developed and became a global standard in the car industry, saving over one million lives. More recently, new technologies developed to improve the analysis of satellite earth images are used to conduct early diagnosis of bladder cancer.
Those are a few examples to show what this Action Plan is all about: pulling together the strengths of civil, defence and space to boost innovation and deliver concrete societal benefits.
This is nothing new. For a long time we have seen technologies cross bridges between civil, space and defence. We have seen radio waves used in military labs end-up in kitchen ovens. And Velcro fasteners initially developed for daily clothes end-up in spaceships to hold objects against zero-gravity.
But this is a new endeavour for the European Union. For the first time, we will have substantial EU funding available for defence and related civilian technologies. This will allow us to build a systematic approach to create synergies across the defence, space and civil worlds. So that innovations can reach multiple uses, by design instead of by coincidence.
To do this, we start with the technology. We put all three sectors together - space, civil, defence - and ask ourselves: how can we make this technology relevant across those fields? How can we make smart use of this increased EU funding to make one innovation reach multiple uses for a wider benefit?
To answer this, we have come up with a new methodology, which starts with the identification of critical technologies relevant across the defence, space and civil industries. For instance Artificial Intelligence, smart sensors, quantum technologies or high-definition earth observation systems. We will update this list every second year.