Navantia and Multiverse Computing have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a framework for strategic collaboration on the development, validation and deployment of artificial intelligence and quantum-inspired solutions applied to naval defense.
The agreement was signed by Enrique Lizaso, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Multiverse Computing, and Gonzalo Mateo-Guerrero, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Navantia.
The companies will explore new lines of work in efficient AI for embedded systems and for surface and submarine platforms; signal processing and situational awareness; mission planning and logistics optimisation; and Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C4I) systems. They will also assess joint proposals for European defense and innovation programs.
Multiverse Computing will make its CompactifAI technology available to the collaboration in order to optimise AI models and facilitate their adaptation to environments constrained by computing capacity, power or connectivity.
On the other hand, Navantia will contribute its product knowledge, naval architecture, systems integration, operational requirements and life-cycle expertise. This complementarity will make it possible to move from experimentation towards AI capabilities embedded in naval products and solutions, according to the partners.
For Navantia, the agreement represents a step forward in incorporating artificial intelligence into its portfolio of products and services and in consolidating in-house industrial capability. The collaboration seeks to accelerate product evolution, strengthen technological sovereignty and broaden participation in national and European initiatives.
For Multiverse Computing, the agreement strengthens its presence in the defense sector, one of the areas where the efficiency of artificial intelligence models has the most direct impact. The company, headquartered in San Sebastián, develops quantum-inspired technology aimed at reducing the size and the inference cost of AI models.
“The agreement will make it possible to apply artificial intelligence to Navantia’s products and accelerate their evolution towards more efficient and more advanced naval solutions,” said Mateo-Guerrero.
“In artificial intelligence applied to defence, the difficult step is not the demonstration but the integration: moving from a model that works in the laboratory to a capability that a naval system can sustain throughout its entire life cycle. That is the ground we want to work on with Navantia,” commented Lizaso.
To remind, Navantia recently signed a contract to repair and modernize two Mandume-class patrol vessels for the Angolan Navy.