Dual-use technology is one of the biggest talking points in UK tech right now.
But building something good isn’t the same as getting it used. At a recent panel, hosted by IoT Tribe in partnership with KARVE, four people who work in this space every day talked about what gets in the way of operationalising innovation, what helps navigate this space and harsh truths about it.
From hardware to systems, and the gap between interest and adoption
Dan Sawyers, from jHub, Cyber & Specialist Operations Command (CSOC), said the thinking has changed. It used to be about having one great piece of equipment. Now, the software that connects everything together matters just as much. This lines up with the government’s 2025 Strategic Defence Review, which set out a vision for a more integrated force built on artificial intelligence and autonomy, not just conventional hardware (House of Commons Library).
But a stronger system doesn’t guarantee a sale. John Moffat, who runs The Structural Battery Company, made a point every founder in this space needs to hear, being that interest isn’t demand. Governments and defence buyers can be impressed by a demo, say encouraging things, even run a trial, and still never buy anything. Ryan Benitez, Chief Commercial Officer at NATO DIANA, added a related complication: the person using your technology often isn’t the person who decides whether to pay for it. In defence, these can be different people entirely. This is, in a sense, DIANA’s whole reason for existing, it was created by NATO members in 2021 specifically to connect innovators with the many institutions and end users across the Alliance who might eventually adopt their work (NATO).
Where the pressure in the supply chain really sits
Simon Briggs, from Tekever, challenged a common belief. People often think large defence contractors are holding things back. He argued the opposite is closer to the truth: these companies avoid risk because the cost of getting it wrong is high. That caution gets passed down the chain instead, and startups end up carrying more of the risk and pressure to move fast.
The Ministry of Defence spends around £5 billion a year with SMEs, but only a quarter of that reaches them through direct contracts, the remaining 75% arrives indirectly through the supply chains of larger prime contractors (GOV.UK). The government has since committed to a £2.5 billion increase in SME spend by summer 2028, a 50% rise on the current baseline, aimed at shifting more of that money toward SMEs directly (GOV.UK).
National will, funding and a sector that has outgrown its budget
Dan Sawyers pointed to Ukraine as an example of what happens when necessity drives innovation forward fast and argued the UK hasn’t had that same wake-up call, needing an honest, national conversation about what would push things forward here. John Moffat agreed, adding that success in this space needs three things together: strong industry, good technology and government backing with funding behind it.
Simon Briggs was blunt about where that leaves the UK today: the defence industry has grown faster than government’s ability to fund it. The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that while the Defence Investment Plan adds an average of £3.8 billion a year in extra funding, that only takes UK defence spending to around 2.7% of GDP by 2029, well short of the 3.5% NATO commitment for 2035, which would require finding roughly an additional £25 billion a year by then (Institute for Fiscal Studies). Briggs posed a question worth asking: are we preparing to equip a war, or equipping the war happening now?
Dan Sawyers added that adversaries such as China and Russia can achieve scale through different systems and incentives, and that the UK and its allies need their own way to compete rather than trying to copy that model.
What this means for founders
Simon Briggs made a point worth remembering, that problems in defence don’t get solved once and stay solved, the industry gets better at handling them, but new challenges keep appearing. Ryan Benitez told founders to stay flexible and think five, ten, even twenty years ahead, not just the next funding round.
John Moffat’s advice, as an innovator himself, was practical: the biggest problem facing UK companies is surviving the “valley of death,” the gap between early technical success and the ability to scale. This isn’t a one-off frustration, it’s a well-documented, structural problem across the sector. Deloitte’s recent analysis of European defence venture capital describes the same pattern: promising firms stalling between demonstration and adoption without the offtake agreements or funding structures needed to mature past that point (Deloitte UK).
Where this leaves the ecosystem
Taken together, the panel painted a picture of a sector in transition, moving toward a more balanced view of what advantage looks like, while still working through real structural issues in funding, procurement and the gap between early interest and lasting adoption. Closing that gap is exactly the work IoT Tribe exists to support, connecting founders building genuinely useful dual-use technology with the institutions that need it, and helping them navigate the valley of death so many of the evening’s speakers pointed to.
