Closer cooperations in defence sector – news from DDAC in Copenhagen

Last week we had the pleasure to attend the yearly Danish Defence Annual Conference in Copenhagen. The opening speech held by the Danish Minister of Defence, Trine Bramsen, welcoming closer cooperation with the Danish defence, a focus on the Arctic on Space and emerging technologies.

Topics covered where;
Why does Denmark need a national defence industry?
What should a national defence industry be capable of?
How to sustain a national defence industry in Denmark? 

Topics that we have seen been covered in all the Nordics, attending equivalent Conferences across the borders.

We see that parallels are drawn between the industries, taking learning from one industry implementing it into another. What cooperation can be done between the Defence industry and Business on strategic projects? The security level in the Defence Industry is high range – can it work here, it might work well in other industries as well.

The speed of technology is moving faster than Elon Musk can tweet. The development over the last decade is impressive. What do these new technologies offer, what are the challenges and opportunities seen in the defence industry?

3d printing, printing in field, easy replacement of spare parts, drones, unmanned vehicles, miniaturisation. The list goes on. The important part to remember in this pace of new technology is compliance. As the focus on new technologies increases, the need, and also the urgency of being compliant arises. Last week we attended a similar event in Oslo arranged by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. The key learnings from this was: Know your customer, Know your product, Know the country of origin of all components to your products. In these settings believing is just not good enough – one must know.

Meeting up with customers and industrial partners, sharing experiences, getting updated on news and learning is always the key essence of these events. This year was no exception – live band performance and even cake!

Stay compliant and stay safe!

Torben Hajslund