Defence Online

Collaboration is the UK’s competitive edge

March 18, 2026

At this year’s Munich Security Conference, collaboration and innovation were recurring themes against a backdrop of European leaders united in their assessment of a more contested and unstable world. There may well be a strategic consensus on the scale of the challenge, but consensus does not necessarily equal capability.

The reality is that technological superiority can no longer be assumed. The question facing the UK and its allies is not whether we agree on the threats, but whether we can translate that agreement into resilient, deployable capability at pace and at scale.

For the UK, collaboration is not simply a virtue. It is a competitive edge.

Superiority can no longer be assumed

For decades, the UK and its allies relied on technological overmatch. Platforms were developed over long cycles, delivered at scale, and expected to dominate for a generation. That landscape is eroding.

Digital technologies harnessing software-driven capabilities and artificial intelligence are powerful equalisers. They reduce the barriers to entry meaning innovation cycles have compressed from decades to months. The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated what has been described as “prototype warfare”: rapid iteration in contact, where systems are tested, adapted and redeployed at extraordinary speed.

In this environment, advantage lies not in possessing a single, highly-specialised capability, but in the ability to iterate faster than your opponent. Static requirements and linear procurement models struggle to keep pace.

For UK defence planning, this demands a shift in mindset, one where innovation must be continuous and development must be spiral. Prototyping and experimentation must sit closer to the operational edge. Most importantly, there must be a clear route from concept to scaled production. Demonstration without deployment is not deterrence.

Sovereign capability underpins collective security

The discussions in Munich rightly focused on European solidarity. But collective security is only as strong as the sovereign capabilities that underpin it.

Sovereignty in defence is not about isolation. It is about assured access to technology, to supply chains, to skills and to industrial capacity. It is about ensuring that, in moments of crisis, critical capabilities are within our control and can be sustained at scale.

The UK is well placed to deliver this. It combines a deep research base, world-class universities, agile technology companies and experienced primes capable of integrating and scaling complex systems. But potential is not the same as output.

We operate in what economists would describe as a monopsony: a market with a single dominant buyer. In defence, that buyer is the state, and this structure brings both opportunity and risk. On one hand, it allows government to set clear strategic direction. On the other, it can dampen competition and distort investment if demand signals are unclear or fragmented.

Better competition drives better investment. Yet competition alone is not sufficient. In highly specialised defence markets, adversarial procurement can inadvertently undermine collaboration and long-term resilience.

The answer lies in “coopetition”: structured collaboration within a competitive framework. The UK’s Procurement Act 2023 recognises this through mechanisms such as Innovation Partnerships, enabling government and industry to work together in developing new solutions while preserving competitive tension.

For industry, this requires a disciplined focus on trusted, resilient supply chains and a willingness to partner in ways that genuinely build sovereign capacity rather than simply displacing it.

Innovation will come from many places

No single organisation holds a monopoly on good ideas. The UK’s innovation ecosystem spans government laboratories, universities, start-ups, scale-ups and established primes. Harnessing that ecosystem effectively is the challenge.

Small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly high-growth scale-ups with an inherent desire to problem-solve, are often at the forefront of digital and software innovation. They bring agility, creativity and a tolerance for risk. Meanwhile, primes bring integration expertise, assurance, certification, manufacturing depth and the ability to scale from prototype to operational capability.

The objective is not acquisition for its own sake. Experience shows that simply absorbing innovative companies can stifle the very dynamism that made them valuable. A partnering model, focused on co-winning and co-delivering, is often more effective.

To make this work, two conditions are essential.

First, there must be a clear “front door” to opportunity. Fragmented entry points and opaque processes deter the very innovators we seek to attract. Second, there must be a consistent and credible demand signal from government. Broad statements of intent are insufficient. Industry needs clarity on priority capability areas, timelines and pathways to procurement.

Where those signals are strong, investment follows. Where they are weak or inconsistent, capital and talent drift elsewhere.

What action looks like today

The shift from rhetoric to action is already underway. Across the sector, there is a growing emphasis on experimentation, rapid prototyping and field-based trials that embrace a “fail fast” ethos. This approach recognises that controlled failure in development is preferable to delayed capability in operations.

Initiatives such as Leonardo UK’s Scaleup Collaboration Partner Programme are practical examples of this philosophy in action. By working with innovative UK companies from an early stage, integrating their technologies into representative trials and providing a pathway to scale, we aim to accelerate the transition from idea to deployable capability.

The outcomes are tangible: faster routes to deployment, clearer sovereign priorities, and long-term industrial investment anchored in the UK. This is not innovation for its own sake. It is innovation in service of resilience.

Munich made clear that Europe understands the scale of the challenge. The UK’s task now is to convert understanding into industrial momentum. That requires collaboration across government, industry and academia, underpinned by clear demand signals and modern procurement mechanisms.

In an era where technological superiority cannot be assumed, resilience becomes the decisive advantage. By combining agility with scale, competition with partnership, and innovation with industrial depth, the UK can ensure that its strategic consensus is matched by real, deployable capability.

Collaboration is not simply good policy. It is our competitive edge.

Prof Simon Harwood

Article submitted by Prof. Simon Harwood, Strategy and Technology Director at Leonardo UK

Prof. Simon Harwood is Strategy and Technology Director at Leonardo UK, where he leads the development and delivery of next-generation sovereign defence and security capabilities. Simon is helping to achieve the UK’s operational readiness in partnership with SMEs, academia and government.

Previously Director of Defence and Security at Cranfield University, Simon has also held senior roles at Boeing and the UK Ministry of Defence. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Hull along with advanced education at Harvard Business School and the University of Cambridge.

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Vicky has worked in media for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience in editing and creating copy for a variety of sectors.