Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the commitments made in his Department's Opportunity and Innovation: The Defence Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Action Plan published on 27 January 2022, how many innovation challenges the Defence and Security Accelerator has run to enable SMEs to bid for funding since January 2022.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) funds innovation through two main mechanisms, the Open Call for Innovation and Themed Competitions. All of these opportunities are open to SMEs to bid for funding.

Since January 2022 the DASA has run 12 Themed Competitions. The Open Call for Innovation is an enduring competition open all year round.