b'Partner News Summer 2022 37CorporateAs is the desire to increase funding, tolatest technology, including autonomy, incentivise companies to invest in R&D,security and AI.to support SMEs and leverage first-rate universities and the role they can play withThe businesses that innovate, both in industry. terms of their products and services and how they operate, will be the ones that With our partnerships with the universitiesdrive long-term economic growth and of Bristol, Southampton and Cranfield, wefuture prosperity. Thales recognises that are making important strides forward in theinvestment in R&D creates a pipeline of fields of autonomy, complex engineering andopportunity, capability and recruitment.the future of flight, he says. For me, the key challenge is winning We also have a thriving programme ofthe war on talent. We have a fantastic sponsoring 55 PhD students in a wideopportunity to develop and grow thevariety of disciplines spread right across thenext generation of engineers. UKfrom Belfast and Glasgow and all the way down to Exeter and Southampton. We must do everything we can to getthat right and keep the pipelinePartnerships are powerful accelerators. Isustainable for the future.am Vice Chair of the South West Regional Defence cluster that was one of the first defence clusters to be set up to build relationships between large industries, academia and SMEs to provide access to'