Saab's Skapa initiative aims to speed technology into customers' hands

Saab has developed an autonomy package for its CB 90 fast boat and demonstrated its ability to navigate the Swedish coast. Pictured above is a CB 90 that was delivered to Malaysia. (Dockstavarvet)

Saab has established a new business function to revamp how it develops and delivers products to meet changing customer requirements. Skapa, a Swedish word that means “to create, to make, or to shape”, will focus on solving customer and stakeholder problems at speed, Erik Smith, president and CEO of Saab in the United States, told reporters on 23 April. “Skapa will accelerate the development and deployment of cutting-edge solutions to our warfighters” at pace, he said.

In the US, Saab has pursued a strategy of selecting areas in the defence market where it believes it has useful products and focusing on them. Skapa is intended to take this strategy to the next level, Smith said. Saab is building an experienced team that can work closely with customers to understand their problems and bring Saab and partner capabilities to bear to solve them, he said. As part of the concept, Skapa will work with government, academia, and industry partners to enhance product offerings and integrate capabilities.

One way to think about the initiative is as a cutting-edge laboratory for developing capabilities that can be integrated into existing products or new products, Smith said. These capabilities will not be limited to Saab products. The collaborative model enables Saab to work with academia and industry to bring the best technology to solve specific challenges, he added. The intent is to avoid proprietary methods that limit what can be done with a platform.