28 September 2021 marked the kick-off of the EU KETs4Dual-Use 2.0 project. The project builds on the outcomes of its predecessor EU KETs4Dual-Use Worldwide, which was carried out as a Phase 1 project between September 2018 and February 2020.

In order to strenghten the project scope for the 2.0 project, the consoritum has included SAFE Cluster as an additional partner to the project. The consortium consist of a total of five partners: the French clusters (poles de compétitivité) OPTITEC as the coordinator, Minalogic and SAFE Cluster together with the defense and security cluster Center for Defence, Space & Security (CenSec) (Denmark) and Estonian Defence Industry Association (EDIA).

By bringing together knowledge, expertise and cross-fertilization of ecosystems in the field of Key Enabling Technologies (with a selected focus on optoelectronics, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence), the project will act as a “springboard” for European dual-use companies with the ambition to access international markets, with the aim of integrating global value chains and developing sustainable long-term partnerships.
The project will establish workshops to prepare and select the most relevant small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to attend the business missions to the preselected target markets Canada, Singapore and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Strand 1 project identified relevant collaboration partners in the three countries, and for the Phase 2 project, the consortium will create a strong agenda for the business missions together with the local partner organisations.

The EU KETs4DUAL-USE 2.0, a 24-month project, is funded under the COSME Go International call in the defense and security sector, with the objective of intensifying collaboration across borders between defense and security and high-tech industrial clusters, in order to develop and implement joint internationalisation strategies in the area of dual use technologies, products and services towards non-EU countries.