The SiEnE partnership has successfully completed the first public event on the possibilities for strengthening the cooperation between civil and defence stakeholders.

The event was primarily focused on addressing the opportunities and possibilities for the inclusion of Slovenian partners in international defence programmes, such as those of Si MoD, the European Defence Agency (EDA), and NATO, as well as other defence value chains within the European region and further afield.

In the introduction, Uroš KOROŠEC, director general of Si MoD’s Logistics Directorate, put forward some guidelines and expressed support for the idea of cooperation in defence. Then, Larisa POGRAJC, PhD, head of Si MoD’s Military Technology, Research and Development Department, presented the organisational structure and the opportunities for engaging in international defence programmes. Last but not least, Colonel Robert Šipec presented the projects and activities of international cooperation of Si MoD and the Slovenian Armed Forces.

Matej GAJZER, managing director of TECES and president of SiEnE, presented the reasons for establishing the SiEnE partnership, its organisational structure and strategies, as well as the planned activities for 2021.

The SiEnE partnership primarily plays the role of facilitator and integrator in the establishment and coordination of international technology development and demonstration projects for a variety of stakeholders. The primary activity of the SiEnE partnership is to support and coordinate its members and to strengthen networking between them, with the aim of integrating them into various international defence projects, headed by other States or by Slovenia.

On the one hand, Si MoD has a key role in providing incentives and guidelines for the development of high-tech, dual-use technologies, in cooperation with the EDA and NATO. On the other hand, the strategic and innovative SiEnE partnership primarily plays the role of facilitator and integrator in the creation of project groups, which are composed of a variety of civil stakeholders and supported by defence stakeholders. The partnership is also responsible for the coordination of the aforementioned groups, with the aim of implementing development and demonstration projects of especial value in the area of dual-use technology development (civil and defence).

In brief, Matej Gajzer also presented the newly launched feasibility study on the development of smart and deployable infrastructure capacities, or SmartCamps, which is the fundamental activity in the strategic project of integrating Slovenian stakeholders into international defence programmes.