By Tor Bagger, AAU Kommunikation & Public Affairs

In total, more than DKK 30 million is on the way to a number of Danish projects that will develop the defence technology solutions of the future.

One of the projects receiving DKK 2 million has people from AAU ENERGY at Aalborg University's campus in Esbjerg in the project manager role and is about planning and developing underwater surveillance solutions.

Collaborative Efforts in Underwater Research

AAU Esbjerg is leading broad partnership with the Technical University of Denmark, University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus University, Danish Hydraulic Institute and Force Technology. The goal is a robust, reliable technological strategy for underwater surveillance in order to protect critical infrastructure in Danish territories.

"We have joined forces in a fairly large consortium consisting of universities and GTS institutes so that we cover the majority of the underwater research in Denmark. The big dream is that we stand stronger as a nation because we stand together ­– politicians, industry and research institutions," says Simon Pedersen, Project Manager.

"We need to start identifying what can be done in a few different areas and what we should invest in. So, it’s about a number of technologies such as unmanned underwater vehicles, cable monitoring, and listening stations with underwater microphones. For example, we don’t necessarily need to develop new underwater microphones, but we need to investigate where they should be placed and how they are best used in conjunction with existing technologies as an integrated solution," explains Simon Pedersen, Head of Esbjerg Energy Section, AAU Esbjerg.

The National Defence Technology Centre (NFC) distributed the funds to 28 projects, all of which can help strengthen future defence and security in Denmark as well as in our alliances with the EU and NATO.

Great potential

"We are still a long way from the EU goal of spending two percent of the defence budget on research and innovation, and in fact, Denmark invests far less than our neighbouring countries. But the potential is great if we build on our areas of strength," says Lars Bo Larsen, Director of NFC.

"And in a time of geopolitical tensions, more funding for research on defence technologies can be one of the most effective ways to put Denmark on the security policy map."

In November, the parties behind the Research Reserve for 2024 decided that NFC should be responsible for distributing funds to support competence and capacity building in the research environment, and DKK 29.5 million was allocated to research and innovation activities in defence technology.

In addition, NFC has financed DKK 5 million for pre-projects that point to future research projects. Not all 28 projects are published in connection with the distribution of funds as certain projects require discretion.

The National Defence Technology Centre is a joint initiative of all the country's universities and all GTS institutes (government-approved research and technology organizations). The purpose of the centre is to contribute to a critical technological boost of the Danish Armed Forces and the Danish defence industry. This will be done through partnerships that integrate technological innovation with civilian, military, political and economic considerations, and part of the plan is to make Denmark a significant knowledge player in defence and security technology.

NFC is generally tasked with building bridges between the Danish Armed Forces, the research world and industry, and Denmark already occupies positions of strength in areas such as artificial intelligence and drone technology that will be crucial for the future of defence.