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The workshop, held on 15 March, was inaugurated by the Director of the IUGM, Miguel Requena Díaz de Reventa, who welcomed the guests.
Then, Jesús Alonso, Director of Business Development at Isdefe, took part in the opening conference for the workshops devoted to “Improving the use of European funds for innovation management” at the Instituto Universitario Gutiérrez Mellado.
As part of the Master’s degree in Public Sector Contract and Program Management, applied to the area of Defense, numerous experts from different fields gathered together to provide an interdisciplinary approach that looked at how legal, financial and technical aspects affect the European funds used to manage innovation in the areas of Defense and Security.
In his presentation Jesús Alonso noted that the main instrument that allows Isdefe to consolidate its function is to promote innovation, mentioning the recently created “Red Horizons”, an innovative tool for developing technology foresight that aims to create an “idea laboratory” that is driven by academic research groups.
This network of national and international experts will allow for the best analysis in fields of strategic interest: Defense and Security, Cybersecurity, Aerospace, Air Traffic Management, ICT and Public Sector Management.
He also stressed that to ensure Europe’s security, we need modern and technologically advanced military capabilities, and noted that investing in research and development programs now is crucial to developing the capabilities we will need tomorrow. Managing innovation requires intelligently leveraging the European funds available.
In his speech he underscored that “international defense programs have yielded experience in international management the likes of which has no equal elsewhere in Spain’s government. The new financing possibilities offer opportunities, but they will also demand a new way to manage programs. Thus, “Spanish defense officials, agencies and industries cannot afford to pass on this opportunity to access resources that will enhance their competitiveness.”
When asked how defense technology will be managed in the future, Jesús Alonso replied that “it will serve to generate and modernize systems of interest to the Armed Forces, but it will maximize the possibilities of the current scenario, taking into account aspects such as dual financing, new players or cooperation in new areas. The new agents, he noted, are the Spanish and European agencies not associated with Defense.”
As for Isdefe’s role in this new scenario, he said the company “remains committed to being the service provider for the Ministry of Defense and for the rest of the government to support the management of innovation, contributing to bringing together the financing mechanisms available within Europe”.