Joint press release: EU and Ukraine to boost battlefield-driven solutions with BraveTech EU

Together with Ukraine, the European Commission is announcing the BraveTech EU initiative, aimed at accelerating defence innovation through closer cooperation. Building on battlefield-tested innovations from Ukraine, BraveTech EU will strengthen the EU’s and Ukraine’s defence capabilities and deepen integration with Ukraine’s defence industry.

The announcement coincides with the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome. The initiative connects the Ministry of Digital Transformation BRAVE 1 defence tech platform with EU programmes like the European Defence Fund (EDF) and theEU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS). It aims to boost innovation by supporting joint actions, hackathons, rapid testing, and direct collaboration between European and Ukrainian companies, especially start-ups and SMEs.

BraveTech EU supports the goals of the White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030, and the new EU-Ukraine Task Force on Defence Industrial Cooperation. It helps align EU and Ukrainian defence ecosystems, while leveraging the innovation potential of closer EU-Ukraine collaboration, focusing on defence industries and new tech ventures.

Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Space, said: “BraveTech EU is a new strategic step for development of EU’s and Ukraine’s defence industry cooperation. The EU, its Member States have an industrial capacity that can help Ukraine to develop new defence systems and to increase the European resilience. On the other hand, our defence industry will be able to learn a lot from a very innovative and dynamic Ukraine’s defence tech community, its industry and its ecosystem. We will deepen our integration – this is very much needed for both sides – for Ukraine and for the EU.”

More information is available in our press release.