A team of officers from the Defence Academy has been recognised for its innovative approach to a long-standing defence challenge, receiving the Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs' 2025 Prize at the Company's Election Court Banquet on 1 July.
The award was presented to Team Vulcanus, an international tri-service team of four officers from the Advanced Command and Staff Course (ACSC), whose project demonstrated outstanding innovative thinking in addressing the issue of obsolescent military parts across defence.
Welcoming the winners, Master Entrepreneur Sir Alastair King and Past Master Mark Huxley recognised the team's innovative, data-driven solution, which has the potential to improve operational readiness, strengthen supply chain resilience and sustain critical defence capabilities. Significantly, the project has already progressed beyond the concept stage and entered implementation, delivering tangible operational benefit.
Receiving the award on behalf of Team Vulcanus were Lt Col Mark O'Sullivan MC, Lt Col Ben McNeil, and Wg Cdr Garreth Winn-Morgan.
Introducing the winners, Lt Cdr Tim West RN from the Learning Capability and Development Group highlighted the growing importance of entrepreneurial leadership within Defence.
"We now live in an increasingly contested global security context," he said. "The recent Strategic Defence Review highlights the need to be agile, harness innovation and adapt at pace to deter our adversaries."
He explained how the Hacking 4 MOD programme encourages students to work collaboratively with academia, industry and defence partners to solve genuine operational problems, applying entrepreneurial thinking to real-world challenges.
The success of Team Vulcanus reflects the Defence Academy's continued commitment to fostering innovation, creativity and enterprise amongst future defence leaders. This approach is further strengthened through the Academy's affiliation with the Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs, which recognises that entrepreneurial thinking has an important role to play well beyond the commercial sector.
Since 2019, the Company has awarded its annual Entrepreneurs' Prize to the Defence Academy student or team that best demonstrates entrepreneurial thinking in tackling real-world defence challenges. The partnership encourages students to challenge convention, develop innovative solutions and translate ideas into practical outcomes that support defence capability.
Team Vulcanus' achievement is a powerful example of these principles in action. Their work demonstrates how curiosity, collaboration and entrepreneurial leadership can transform complex organisational challenges into practical and scalable solutions, delivering lasting benefits not only for defence, but for wider public service and national security.