Murcia will enhance the defense industry with an investment of three million euros

The Government of Murcia will encourage with three million euros the realization of industrial research and experimental development projects, with the aim of achieving a competitive improvement in the defense and security industry, according to sources from the Murcian Executive in a statement.

This was announced on Thursday by the president of the region, Fernando López Miras, during the inauguration of the European Congress of Naval Defense Industry that, in collaboration with the European Commission, is held on March 6 and 7 in Cartagena, and which is attended by more than 300 people from all over Europe.

This specific R&D line for the Defense and Security sector will allow responding to technological needs and opportunities that, for example, the Navy of Cartagena and Navantia identify in the medium term, accommodating companies in the Region of Murcia and research agencies such as universities and technological centers.

Aid, which will be convened in the second quarter of the year, may be of two modalities: individual and cooperation projects. In the first one, the beneficiary entities will be small and medium enterprises, which can obtain subsidies of up to 120,000 euros.

With regard to the second modality, with aid that can reach 300,000 euros per project, it includes the possibility that large companies can participate in cooperation projects together with SMEs in the region. It is an especially interesting option to encourage that large corporations exercise a positive tractor effect on regional SMEs, which costs the most standing out in the field of defense and security.

In addition to the costs of the investigating personnel and personnel who develop technical work in subsidized activities, the program will cover the contractual research costs, knowledge and patents acquired or obtained by license, as well as the costs of consulting and equivalent services destined exclusively for research and development activities.

Murcia, epicenter of the naval industry

The Region of Murcia, and especially Cartagena, will be for two days the epicenter of the Naval European Defense Industry, thanks to the European Congress held in the port city until Friday. This event has gathered more than 300 people from all over Europe, including top -level representatives, as well as outstanding experts from countries such as Italy, France, Sweden or Netherlands.

López Miras has affirmed that “we are very proud that the European Commission has trusted us to organize this event. Cartagena is one of the most important strategic enclaves in Europe, with a naval tradition that has endured over the centuries.”

For López Miras, this Congress brings two opportunities: on the one hand, “to reinforce our commitment to that great project that is the construction of a cohesive and strong Europe”, and on the other, “the technological transformation” rigged to “geopolitical changes that were unthinkable months ago.”

Among these initiatives, López Miras recalled that “one of the most ambitious and pioneers that we have undertaken in recent years is Caetra: a real transformative project, which tells as the greatest asset with the experience and maturity of the companies in the region. We talk about SMEs and startups that, for example, develop underwater technologies, which work new materials based on grapheno to improve protection against ammunition. Algorithms for artillery guidance. “

“Europe must have an own defense industry, and in the creation of that productive fabric, in Cartagena and in the region of Murcia we are going one step ahead thanks to Caetra,” said the president, who has valued that “nobody had so far made a program like this.”

Thus, Caetra includes “specific calls for certifications and homologations; financing and specialized advice, or aid for participation in international fairs and events. They are tens of actions, and by the way, the 85 by the way of them have been carried out precisely in Cartagena,” López Miras reported.

The Congress program highlights conferences and round tables in which the challenges of the European Defense Industrial Strategy will be addressed, as well as the technological challenges of the naval sector, and first -hand information about the financing opportunities within the framework of the European Defense Fund by 2025.

The Congress is co -organized by the Ministry of Business, Employment and Social Economy, through the Institute of Development (INFO), and the General Directorate of Defense and Space Industry of the European Commission, with the collaboration of Navantia. In this sense, it is part of the activities of the European Network of Defense Regions, promoted by the General Directorate of Defense and Space Industry of the European Commission, to which the Region of Murcia belongs.

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Murcia will enhance the defense industry with an investment of three million euros