The Defence Ministers of the European Defence Agency (EDA) member countries approved the creation of a Hub for EU Defence Innovation (HEDI) within the Agency on Tuesday 17 May at the Agency’s Steering Board.
Approved by the European Council at the end of March, the ‘Strategic Compass’ called for the creation of this kind of hub in 2022, the preparatory work for which began in May 2021 (see EUROPE 12919/3).
According to a release from the agency, the HEDI hub will serve as a platform to stimulate, facilitate and support cooperation on defence innovation between Member States, while ensuring synergies with related European Commission activities, notably the EU defence innovation scheme, and coherence of output with NATO innovation initiatives such as the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA).
HEDI’s activities will focus on the EU’s priorities for the development of defence research capabilities and industrial capacities.
The hub will be developed in three stages. Firstly, the ambition is to inspire and promote innovation at EU level, secondly to facilitate innovation in the Member States and EU institutions, and thirdly to make HEDI an EU-wide platform for cooperative design and experimentation embedded in the EU capability development process. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)