In this series of ‘Five minutes with’ interviews, we share insights from the civil service and public sector leaders who will speak at our Innovation 2026 conference. Taking place in London on 24 and 25 March, attendees will hear leaders from around the world speak on a range of topics related to driving the transformation of public sector organisations.
Alongside the central government agenda, this year’s conference will include a dedicated programme for the defence, security, cyber and resilience industries.
In this interview, Annette Southgate, deputy director of homeland security science and technology and ACE (Accelerated Capability Environment) at the UK Home Office – who will speak in the session ‘From innovation to implementation: Accelerating defence technology adoption’ – tells GGF about the importance of public-private collaboration and attracting novel innovators to defence, and sets a challenge to her peers.
I’m looking forward to learning how peers across government, industry, and academia understand their problems and opportunities in order to create a compelling reason to adopt emerging technologies, particularly AI-enabled productivity and secure data collaboration.
I’m also keen to share examples where ACE has enabled a step change in capability in these areas. ACE is all about creating the structure for public‑private collaboration that can deliver practical impact at pace. And frankly, we would like the audience to engage with us and see how ACE can help them address some of their most difficult problems and unlock their potential.
The greatest opportunities lie in rapidly deployable digital capability, AI driven productivity gains, and nationally coordinated platforms. Together, these enable faster and operationally meaningful digital transformation.
The Strategic Defence Review stated that in order to transform our readiness and capability, the Ministry of Defence would aim to spend £2.5bn (US$3.3bn) per annum with SMEs; UK Defence & Innovation (UKDI) would be established with a minimum annual budget of £400m (US$535m); and Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) would spend a minimum of 10% of its annual operating budget on novel technology.
Procurement is key to this, and ACE is a fantastic way of getting exposure to a community of novel innovators ready to show their capability in a rapid and agile environment, which then breeds confidence for pull through to operational capability.
Read more: ‘It’s important to bring people with you’: the UK Ministry of Defence’s Tim Ketton-Locke on making the government’s defence reforms happen
Clear problem definition, faster and more assured testing pathways for emerging technology, and stronger collaboration between government, industry, and academia.
More specific actions include:
ACE uses rapid prototyping, structured market testing, and horizon scanning to test real solutions against operational needs. This reduces risk, accelerates adoption, and gives organisations early confidence in new technologies.
Our priorities are scaling ACE’s innovation pathways, deepening engagement with mission users, and growing supplier and academic communities. We’d welcome insights on barriers to adoption, high impact emerging technologies, and what evidence is needed to adopt new tools faster.
ACE has been successfully growing for the last nine years. We recently embarked on a procurement to select our delivery partners to support the next phase of ACE impact. I am delighted to confirm that PA Consulting and Plexal were successful in this competitive procurement. What this brings is the opportunity to build on the amazing work to date, to enhance our bravery to face into some of the material barriers to innovation in government. We are so excited about what this next phase presents in terms of stimulating breakthrough technology, creating sovereign capability, driving economic growth at the same time as enabling prosperity and public good.
We would like to find out from peers:
Challenge us to help you solve the most complex problems you have! These conversations help ACE ensure its work is grounded in real world‑world need and delivering the greatest possible public value.
Click here to find out more and register for Innovation 2026. And click here to view the dedicated defence, security, cyber and resilience agenda.
