Unfortunately, due to my recovery from Covid 19, I was unable to attend my meeting with the State Secretary of Defense, Christophe van der Maat and Director of #NIDV Ron Nulkes, at the Sensortech & Communications event last week, but my colleague Stijn de Geus was happy and able to take my place.
Since the Ministry of Defense wants to promote innovative technologies, we asked the State Secretary of Defense to back up this policy with action when it comes to promoting new innovative developments in the fields of communications and sensors. In particular, our new health monitor bracelet has caught his attention.
When it comes to the development costs of a new product, as a small business you are completely reliant on your own cash flow to begin with. While there are initiatives such as #MIND, FRONT, the Defense Innovation Competition, and the Maritime Cluster, contributing to these can take up to 2 years or more without any certainty as a company as to whether or how much budget will be allocated.
This makes it very difficult for small innovative small businesses and startups to do business with the Department of Defense. The State Secretary of Defense was made aware of this problem by several companies. He promised to find a solution to this problem to make it more attractive again for innovative companies, like the IP Company, to develop new creative technologies for the Department of Defense. Stijn, thank you very much for your contribution!