Saab establishes UK innovation network with £3.5 million investment

press release





Saab has opened a UK Innovation Hub at Imperial College London’s White City Campus in London. An initial seed investment of £3.5 million into Saab’s UK-wide network of research and development projects is expected to grow over the coming years, demonstrating Saab’s continued commitment to the country. The Hub will be the focal point for managing these investments.

The Hub will reach new areas of the UK’s STEM network, sharing Saab’s advanced expertise with the wealth of world-leading scientists and academics that the UK has to offer.

Saab UK Innovation Hub’s research at Imperial will initially focus on radar technology, with electronic warfare and cybersecurity as future areas of interest. A research project into multistatic and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars will be amongst the first to take place through a collaboration with Imperial’s Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST).

The announcement reflects Saab’s confidence in British innovation, having come only six months after the company opened the UK’s first Digital Control Tower in partnership with Cranfield University, and partly funded the £67m Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre.

“I am delighted to support the opening of Saab’s new Innovation Hub, which serves as the focal point for their initial £3.5 million investment. It’s brilliant to see companies like Saab capitalising on the UK’s cutting edge R&D capabilities and partnering with one of our leading universities. Their investment further strengthens the enduring bond between the UK and Sweden”, said Mark Prisk MP, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to the Nordic and Baltic region.

“Saab has a 40-year record of being a trusted partner with the United Kingdom. By building on our ongoing work with Cranfield University and opening our new UK Innovation Hub with Imperial College London, we are demonstrating our continuing commitment to investing in the UK and our confidence in Britain as a hotbed of innovation and talent”, said Andrew Walton, Head of Saab country unit United Kingdom.

“Imperial is already a leader in engineering innovation. This collaboration with Saab will create a national Hub with international reach. Investment in innovation is not just about jobs, but about planting the seeds for future generations of innovators”, said David Gann, Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at Imperial College Business School.

Saab provides innovative defence and security technologies that keep Britain safe. Saab reinvests 23 per cent of its annual revenue in research and development, collaborating with a range of partners, including industry and academia. The UK supply chain is made up of nearly 1,000 of the best companies in the industry, across the length and breadth of the country – 99 per cent of these are SMEs

Saab’s extensive experience of developing advanced technologies for the defence and security sectors has enabled a long-term partnership with the United Kingdom that has stood strong for the last 40 years. Saab currently employs 300 people across six UK sites supporting a multi-million-pound supply chain across the UK that provides thousands of British jobs.