Prime Minister Golob: “If we want to build a resilient society, we must take a comprehensive approach to resilience”

The Prime Minister recalled the year 2022, when the Government took office. "On the first day of our term, we set one of our priorities – to increase funding for innovation, research, science and development, and we have doubled it during this term," said the Prime Minister. He pointed out that the Ministry of Defence had been given the same task at the same time and has also significantly increased the funds it invests in the development of new technologies. This has already opened the door during this term to some Slovenian companies which have products that are of interest to the whole world, the Prime Minister noted.

"When we took office, we faced the largest fire in the history of Slovenia, and a year later, the largest floods. Based on the experience of these two natural disasters, the Ministry of Defence began working on Slovenia's so-called resilience," said the Prime Minister, recalling last year's presentation of the national exercise Resilience 2024 in Brdo pri Kranju.

"If we want to build a society that is resilient to whatever the future may bring, be it natural disasters or wars, we must take a comprehensive approach to resilience," said the Prime Minister, pointing out that, in the broadest sense of the word, dual use covers half of all sectors, not just defence and security. It also covers healthcare, logistics, food, energy and everything else that actually keeps our society going in the event of a disaster.

The Prime Minister went on to emphasise that, with expenditures ranging from 2 to 5 percent, each country has the opportunity to develop its own approach to strengthening resilience, defence capabilities and security, as well as developing its industry and strengthening its economy.

He highlighted space technology as the most obvious example of dual use, noting that Slovenia became a full member of the European Space Agency this year. This has given Slovenia access to the knowledge and market available within the agency. According to the Prime Minister, we, Slovenians, have knowledge that is valued all over the world.

"All this should serve as an example of what we can develop at home and sell around the world, so that we can have better salaries and ultimately afford a Christmas bonus," concluded Prime Minister Golob.

The Dual Use Slovenia 2025 Conference: The Role of Industry and Critical Infrastructure in Strengthening Civil and National Resilience is intended for all stakeholders who play a key role in the development and transformation of the Slovenian economic and innovation ecosystem in the context of dual-use technologies – both civil and defence.