The Materials CapTech meetings are held 3 times per year, with a maximum duration of 2 days. All the information is shared in its Workspace. Prior or right after a CapTech meeting, a workshop or seminar might take place. The Workshops objectives are to achieve concrete outcomes, such as the preparation of a project or fulfilment of an extraordinary request (topics for calls for proposals, SRA development, technology assessment, etc.). The workshops are “hands-on” and participative. On the other hand, the seminars objective is to raise the awareness and knowledge about a specific technology identified in the CapTech, and gain insight on the potential of that technology for defence applications. Subject matter experts will be invited as speakers.
To become a Materials CapTech member (CGE or CnGE), please follow the instructions included in the R&T General site and be aware that your request will be forwarded to the relevant CNC. The approval of the CNC will be needed to become a CGE or CnGE, and also for your participation in a CapTech event.
The activities of the CapTech Materials & Structures are guided by the Materials CapTech Strategic Research Agenda (SRA). The Materials CapTech started by identifying a number of technology gaps and attempted to prioritise these in a way which stimulates multilateral R&T collaboration, bearing in mind possible synergies with organisations including ESA, NATO and EC programmes. The agreed way ahead was through clustering by domain around programmes to allow a more focused approach. From there, technology gaps could be established and translated into a technology roadmap. Four key areas or domains have been defined: air systems, naval systems, land systems (including soldier systems) and cross-cutting technologies. The clustering process has been also expanded to include the area of critical defence technologies. A total of 24 areas for future work are identified, 5 in the Air system domain, 6 in the Naval system domain, 4 in the Land system domain and 9 in the Cross-cutting domain. These 24 areas have been merged in 10 Technology Building Blocks (TBBs), following the dimensions of the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda Methodology (OSRA), such as operational relevance (CDP) and disruptive innovation
Based on the SRA, any CapTech member can propose ideas for new activities (projects, workshops, seminars, etc.) at any meeting. The ideas are collected and, if not immediately detailed with clear expression of interest, it is the role of the moderator to persist and revisit what remains to then re-launch or definitively archive an idea. The active involvement of non-governmental members in proposing solutions for governmental needs, with a consistent and systematic ground for dialogue can definitely encourage cooperation.
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