Login
iscover
A new program has been set up to help SMEs in the defence, advanced manufacturing and cyber security sectors expand their global footprint.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The Defence Teaming Centre has launched Team.eX, a business program set up to build the export capabilities of Australian firms across the defence, advanced manufacturing and cyber security space.
The eight-month executive education program provides participants with access to face-to-face workshops, online modules, networking opportunities, legal templates, facilitated introductions, market research and one-on-one export coaching.
Defence Teaming Centre CEO Audra McCarthy said Team.eX would help businesses take on larger projects, diversify their revenue streams and develop export opportunities.
“For Australian SMEs wanting to access global markets and the supply chains of large, multi-national organisations, it isn’t as simple as picking up the phone and talking to the right person,” she said.
“To be considered, even the amount of paperwork required can be overwhelming. It requires a huge amount of preparation and commitment from a business.
“The teaming concept will bring together like-minded SMEs with complementary capabilities to offer an improved, integrated solution to global customers and overcome many perceived risks such as size.”
McCarthy added: “Combined, the knowledge, skills and relationships provided by the program will build capability and scale, making it easier for SMEs to compete domestically and globally for work across a range of sectors.”
Tony Martin, the global access program manager at BAE Systems Australia, said Team.eX expands on the company’s existing initiatives.
“There are significant opportunities for Australian industry in the BAE Systems’ global supply chain,” he said.
“We strongly believe Team.eX will support businesses to mature and compete domestically and globally for work.
“We find within the Australian supply community, there are many SMEs with a niche – unique capabilities which they apply very well in their own selected field. But bringing together companies with complementary capabilities, as Team.eX aims to do, can often achieve a far greater effect.”
Simon Kennedy, managing director of specialist steel fabricator Smart Fabrication, and a foundation participant of the Team.eX program, said the initiative would help the firm reach its full potential.
"Defence is a sector we've been working in for over a decade now, but one thing we haven't looked at seriously enough is the opportunity to compete in global supply chains,” he said.
“We know we can do it; we've got what it takes, but Team.eX will help us get there much faster. It's exciting – we know it’ll give us the knowledge, connections and implementation support we need to take that next step and forge even stronger relationships with global defence primes."
Participants can access federal and state government grants to offset their organisation’s cost to take part in the Team.eX program.
Foundation partners of Team.eX include Adelaide Business School (the University of Adelaide), Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), Department for Trade and Investment, De Stefano & Co, Jones Harley Toole and Knowledge Perspectives.
The Team.eX program has received grant funding from the Australian government’s SME Export Hubs Initiative.
[Related: South Australian Codan Comms, Solinnov join C4 EDGE]
