Europe is losing the innovation race. The United States dominates AI, semiconductors and defence technology; China is close behind with state-backed capital and industrial speed. Europe, meanwhile, still moves through layers of process. We talk about strategic autonomy but rarely act with strategic urgency. That could finally change — because defence innovation has become Europe’s best chance to lead again.
Venture capital is now flowing into defence and dual-use technology at a pace Europe has never seen. New funds are forming, founders are emerging, and deal flow is accelerating. If this private momentum combines with the hard-earned experience coming from Ukraine and a reform of Europe’s slow, fragmented public funding, we could witness a genuine defence-innovation miracle. Europe has the ingredients: combat-proven insight, exceptional engineering talent and an investment community beginning to move at the speed of relevance.
Ukraine has become the world’s fastest defence accelerator — a live R&D environment where drones, sensors and electronic-warfare systems evolve in weeks. What once took years of planning now happens through constant testing, feedback and redeployment. At BROSWARM, the landmine-detection company I co-founded, we’ve seen how real-world trials transform development cycles. The agility forced by battlefield conditions has produced a generation of technologies and teams Europe should be ready to scale.
The war has also rewritten doctrine. Heavy armour and large, costly platforms no longer guarantee dominance; smaller, distributed and intelligent systems do. Agility beats scale, and software beats steel. That shift plays directly to Europe’s strengths — deep-tech startups, robotics labs and software-driven hardware. The next generation of defence capability will not be built only by major primes but by small, fast teams integrating AI, sensing and autonomy. This is where Europe’s engineering culture already excels.
Global private investment in defence technology has surged — from the low billions in 2019 to tens of billions by 2023 — yet Europe still captures only a fraction. Public programmes fund early research, procurement begins too late, and the crucial middle — where prototypes become products — remains under-financed. Venture capital can accelerate what public funding starts, but Europe’s programmes must evolve from slow grant cycles into true co-investment frameworks that reward delivery and speed. Defence investment is now one of the most dynamic and necessary categories in European deep tech. The next breakout companies will come from autonomy, sensing, secure communications and energy-resilient infrastructure — technologies that protect nations and sustain economies. The funds that recognise this shift early will capture both returns and strategic influence.
Europe missed the AI wave. We still have time not to miss defence. Ukraine has proved that innovation and adaptability can rewrite the rules of warfare. Now it is up to Europe’s investors and policymakers to decide whether to lead or watch others scale our ideas. If capital, experience and governance finally converge, Europe can win the next great innovation race — and this time, in a domain that truly matters.
