Announced by Defence Secretary John Healey at a formal ceremony closing the London Stock Exchange on 13 May 2025, the ‘Engine for Growth’ is a major package of reforms and investment designed to supercharge innovation, streamline procurement, and ensure that cutting-edge UK technology reaches the front line faster.
At its heart, the initiative recognises that agile, high-growth tech companies like Whitespace have a critical role to play in shaping the future of UK defence. By removing traditional barriers to working with government, including lengthy procurement timelines and restrictive frameworks, this new model enables more dynamic, forward-thinking partnerships between the MoD and the UK’s thriving innovation sector.
Whitespace’s Role
At Whitespace, we’ve spent the last decade helping some of the world’s most complex organisations solve innovation challenges and unlock transformative ideas through smart collaboration. Being selected as one of the first companies under the new Enterprise Agreement framework is a proud validation of the work we’ve done to date and a powerful platform to do more.
Our inclusion reflects our deep experience working at the intersection of technology, government, and innovation strategy, and our ongoing mission to make innovation scalable, measurable, and impactful. We look forward to collaborating closely with the MoD and its ecosystem to deliver new value through intelligent discovery, insight-led scouting, and tailored programme delivery.
A National Investment in Innovation
As part of the package, the MoD announced up to £50 million in Enterprise Agreements chosen for their potential to deliver impactful technological solutions in defence and security contexts. These agreements represent a more flexible and responsive route for the government to access innovation at pace.
This announcement also introduced a suite of wider reforms, including:
- The creation of a new defence innovation body, backed by £400 million in funding, focused on identifying and scaling transformational technologies.
- The launch of a Defence Technology Scaler, a first-of-its-kind facility designed to support promising start-ups and scale-ups with funding, mentoring, and direct access to defence end-users.
- Commitments to cut timeframes for new defence contracts, particularly for SMEs and high-growth firms, create a more level playing field across the industry.
What’s Next
This is more than just a funding announcement; it’s a signal of intent. The UK is investing in its future defence capability not just through hardware, but through ideas, partnerships, and a more agile approach to finding and funding the innovations that matter.
For Whitespace, this is about building momentum behind something we’ve long championed: the need for secure, scalable innovation that makes it into operations.
Central to this is Collective – the backbone of how we deliver innovation with speed, agility, and purpose. It enables us to move fast in developing and deploying AI solutions, always in close collaboration with the end user.
That means we’re not just building tech for Defence; we’re building it with Defence, ensuring every solution is shaped by real needs, tested in real environments, and ready to deliver real impact.
We believe the future of defence innovation is collective, and we’re proud that our technology, people, and partners will continue to help shape it.
