We are delighted to announce that the SMI Conference 2025 will take place on 1st April 2025 at the Leonardo Royal Southampton Grand Harbour Hotel.

The one-day event will bring together key stakeholders within the UK’s maritime defence and security enterprise to discuss future opportunities and build valuable connections. The SMI Conference 2025 will expand on the work of SMI's Strategic Defence Review and AUKUS working groups. In addition to the main conference programme, we will once again host an exhibition. 

Agenda

0800-0900 - Registration and Networking

Session 1 -  The Strategic Context for the Naval Enterprise

• 0900 - 0920 - Opening Remarks
• 0920 - 0940 - The National Shipbuilding Office - Looking to the Future
• 0940 - 1000 - The Strategic Defence Review Outcomes for the Royal Navy
• 1000 - 1030 - Panel Discussion 
• 1030 - 1100 - Networking Coffee Break

Session 2 - Challenges, Opportunities and Future Plans

• 1100 -1200 - A multi-stakeholder panel discussion covering key themes of skills development, technology, collaboration with academia and more, featuring panellists from: 

• DSTL 
• Industry
• Royal Navy
• UK Defence and Security Exports

• 1200 - 1330 - Networking Lunch Break

Session 3 - Opportunities in AUKUS

• 1330 - 1345 - AUKUS Geopolitical Context
• 1345 - 1400 - AUKUS Pillars 1 and 2
• 1400 - 1415 - Underwater Group
• 1415 - 1430 - ACIF: What it Means to Industry
• 1430 - 1500 - Panel Discussion 

Session 4 - Safeguarding Critical National Infrastructure

• 1500 - 1545 - A multi-stakeholder panel discussion covering the below topics and more:

• Security in Renewables
• Designing for Security
• A Port's Perspective

• 1545 - 1615 - Networking Coffee Break

Session 5 - Shipyard of the Future

• 1615 - 1715 - This is a multi-stakeholder panel discussion outlining the ways that investment could/ should be spent to empower the UK's shipbuilding enterprise. The panel comprises representatives from yards of varying sizes, all engaged in the UK's naval shipbuilding pipeline. 

• 1715 - 1730 - Closing Remarks 
• 1730 - 2130 - Networking Reception with Buffet

SMI Conference 2024

Check out the video below from this year's SMI Conference 2024, held at Millennium Point in Birmingham.