The expert group of Aerospace & Defence is formed by 77 members from 20+ Member States and associated countries closely working with SMEs, research centres and other key actors in their regional ecosystems in the field of aeronautics, space, security and defence. All the main European regions linked to aerospace clusters and significant representations of companies in the sector are represented in the group.
The group’s members are qualified experts with high competence in transnational cooperation, supporting their clients in finding the most relevant business or technological partners for growing internationally. Furthermore, experts are well experienced in EU-funded programmes, guiding their clients in accessing funds specifically oriented towards the development of aviation projects, space-related technologies, dual use technologies or security activities.
The group's expertise are: aeronautics, aviation and aircraft, drones, space, satellites, launchers, space observation, security, dual use, defence, cybersecurity and all related technologies.
Our action has promoted over 50 collaboration agreements, as well as many other partnerships being defined. Furthermore, or network of experts has organized and promoted over 32 brokerages with thousands of customers involved.

How we work

Our expert group meets every month for operational sessions, and have two in-person official meetings per year on the occasion of trade fairs, seminars and network activities.
The mission of our network of experts is to foster business cooperation, innovation and technology transfer by providing personalised support to SMEs and other key actors working in the aerospace and defence industries.
The main actions are:

1. Promoting EU-funded programmes for R&D projects and the submission of proposals.

2. Facilitating business, technology and R&D collaborations across Europe and beyond.

3. Supporting the internationalisation process of our clients, overcoming barriers.

Initiatives and events

• Catalogue of Aerospace & Defence technologies. This is a compilation of EU-based SMEs and research institutions excelling in the field of aeronautics, space, security and defence looking for business and technology partners, or to undertake a new R&D Project under a EU-funded scheme. This catalogue is updated periodically to guarantee that all opportunities included are groundbreaking are valuable to our clients.
• Aerospace & Defence B2Match Events. The network organizes Brokerage Events in the framework of international fairs such as ILA Berlín, Space Tech Expo in Bremen, Paris Air Show, FEINDEF in Madrid or DEFEA in Athens. During these Brokerage Events, key actors in those related fields can create their own Marketplace available to showcase partner opportunities ante book 20-30 minutes meetings with potential partners.
• International Missions abroad. The network is present in all major events in the field of aerospace and defence, and EEN Advisors try to support their clients to be there too. For this purpose, the SG organizes International Company Missions to key markets within Europe and beyond to facilitate the business and technological cooperation.
• EU programmes Information services. The network cooperate closely with National Contact Points of EU programmes such as Horizon Europe, National Focal Points of the European Defence Fund (EDF) or representatives from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking to have the most updated information about the upcoming calls for proposals and the requirements to meet to take part in them.
• Involvement in European programmes. The network supports the development of several European projects, also collaborating directly in their implementation. The Group is represented in the Stakeholders Board in projects such as ECARE financed by Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking and GreeNet which is financed by Horizon Europe.
• Collaboration with Clusters . The network has promoted close collaboration with the clusters organizing meetings and other activities dedicated to strengthening synergies at local and European level.
• Collaborations with European networks. The network actively collaborates    with EDIH, NCP and ESABIC, also thanks to their presence of the networks in several host organizations. The synergy was created to offer integrated services and jointly assist companies.