SiENE - Industry and Government Representatives highlight SiEnE Partnership as a European Success Story in Civil-Defence Cooperation

Discussions on how Slovenian companies and research organisations can better seize opportunities in the defence sector were at the forefront of this year’s early-summer gathering of TECES partnership members.

At the event, which brought together representatives of industry, research organisations and government institutions, the Slovenian Energy and Environment Partnership in Defence (SiEnE) was highlighted as a European example of effective civil-defence collaboration.

This year’s gathering also marked the 5th anniversary of SiEnE, which has become a key platform for connecting defence and civil stakeholders.

SiEnE Partnership – an Example of Cooperation Recognised as Best Practice by European Partners

Zeljko Kralj As a representative of one of the founding members of the SiEnE partnership, the Director General of the Logistics Directorate at the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr Željko Kralj, MSc, addressed the gathered participants. He emphasised that this year marks five years since establishing the SiEnE partnership, which the Ministry of Defence (SiMoD) set up with TECES as a key platform for cooperation between civil and defence stakeholders.

“Together, we have proven capable of achieving outstanding results – for several consecutive years, Slovenia has ranked among the most successful countries in European Defence Fund calls. This year, we secured the €57 million EDF-2024-SENTINEL project, where TECES plays the leading coordination role. This is the result of successful collaboration between industry, the research organisations and the state within the framework of SiEnE, which has been recognised as an example of best practice by our colleagues abroad,” highlighted Mr Kralj.

He added that the SiMoD encourages national development projects and participation in international initiatives to accelerate the transition from development to serial production of products that can be successfully placed on foreign markets.

A Joint Approach as the Key to Industrial Solutions for the International Market

Colonel Robert Šipec, Head of the Energy Efficiency and Green Transition Sector at the SiMoD, who leads the coordination of national and international activities in the field of energy efficiency and resilience of the defence sector, stressed that in the past five years, the SiEnE partnership has achieved significant progress in integrating Slovenian experts into international projects.

“It is precisely these projects that are taking us a step closer to industrialisation and products with which we can confidently present ourselves to the world,” Colonel Šipec pointed out.

Increased Defence Spending as an Opportunity for the Development

Mr Matjaž Čemažar, MSc, President of the Management Board of Domel, underlined that the timely recognition of opportunities arising from the defence industry's green transition, combined with energy solutions within SiEnE, has enabled Slovenian partners to participate in European defence projects.

“Today, we aim to strengthen this ambition further. Increased defence expenditure can serve as an important lever for developing breakthrough technologies, which must be in the interest of all TECES partners,” Čemažar emphasised.

President of SiEnE Reappointed as Industry Rapporteur in the EnE CapTech

Alongside the remarkable success of securing the EDF-2024-SENTINEL project, the integration of Slovenian experts into international projects, and the approval of the E+ZERO, first Cat B project within the Energy and Environment Capability Technology Group (EnE CapTech) one of the key highlights was also the re-election of Mr Matej Gajzer, MSc, Director of TECES, to a second term as Industry Rapporteur in the EnE CapTech, operating under the auspices of the European Defence Agency (EDA). This enables Slovenian stakeholders to exert significant influence on the directions of future European defence-energy projects.