How the European Defence Agency can unleash Europe’s startups

The latest European Defence Agency (EDA) annual report paints a hopeful picture. Europe is finally showing signs of strategic geopolitical maturity: prioritizing defense cooperation, investing in emerging tech, and consolidating ways of operating that have historically been fragmented across its member states.

There’s reason for optimism. But still, something is holding Europe back with regard to its defense: its failure to harness its startups.

Although the EDA is the coordinating hub of the EU’s defense efforts – aligning national priorities, facilitating joint procurement, and translating political ambition into operational reality – it remains difficult for small, fast, high-tech firms to gain access.

That matters because in today’s defense landscape, speed counts as much as, if not more than, scale. Innovation is taking place not in big, state-run research centers but in small labs, university spinoffs, and dual-use companies whose teams think in weeks and months instead of years.

In Ukraine, companies like these are the ones making a difference. Cheap drones, made by university-age tech entrepreneurs, are taking out massive, expensive tanks.

Even companies that aren’t new to defense – companies whose products are already deployed in NATO operations – struggle. Even with a proven track record, a company is liable to find the EDA system opaque and that navigating it is painfully slow. Access to the right forums requires insider knowledge, open calls are rare, and the paths to partnership are littered with red tape.

China, and probably Russia, don’t have this problem. They integrate startups quickly into their military-industrial bases, and marshal the vast resources of the state to scale promising startups and keep bureaucracy to a minimum.

The United States, too, doesn’t have this issue. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) takes calculated gambles on emerging tech, makes open calls and supports a culture of big thinking. One in four American defense contracts now goes to a small business, and DARPA investment is behind the development of the internet and autonomous vehicles.

On the surface, it looks like Europe is trying to follow suit. Through the European Defence Fund, the EDA supports SME-led initiatives. It is strengthening ties with Ukraine, Norway, and the United States. Its interest in AI, autonomous systems, and materials science shows it recognizes where the future lies. And in 2023, the EDA managed over 100 research and technology projects worth €681 million ($774 million).

But in strategic terms, that investment is a drop in the ocean, and these moves have yet to become more than promising gestures. If the EU is serious about its autonomy and resilience, it has to increase both the scale and speed of defense innovation, which means opening the gates to the startup world and inviting the companies in.

Let’s be practical. What we need to see are routine open calls that are well-publicized and transparent. We also need entry into expert groups, such as CapTechs, to be streamlined. We need to fast-track startups with relevant, dual-use tech so that whatever they’re building can go from the lab to the field without fuss and paperwork, and enter into rapid feedback loops that mean constant iteration.

And we need more proactive outreach. Startups must have access to the strategic plans of the military in order to develop in the right way, and in the right direction and to propose solutions to military leaders. If it’s true that Europe must be able to defend itself within 18 months – and this is what some leading voices are saying – then it should be hammering on the door of every promising startup on the continent, not waiting to be approached.

Europe must also consider abandoning university civil clauses that block them from engaging with defense, and make dual-use a prerequisite for research grants. This is easy to do, and would make a world of difference. Europe is home to some of the most brilliant engineers and thinkers in the world. We already educate the talent; why do we then sideline it?

Don’t get me wrong: the EDA has accomplished much already. It has brought coherence to a scattered defense landscape. That’s no small feat. But it does have to go further. We need cultural change. It simply has to be made easier for people outside the traditional ecosystem to contribute to Europe’s defenses. That means acting more quickly, communicating more plainly, and building mechanisms that reflect how innovation actually works today.

It’s in everyone’s interest to do this. Because the future of European security will not be built by bureaucracy. It will be built by those willing to take risks, move fast, and reimagine what defense can be.

And they’re already here. We just need to let them in.

Robert Brüll is CEO at Aachen, Germany-based FibreCoat.

欧洲防务局（EDA）最新年度报告描绘了一幅充满希望的景象。欧洲终于展现出战略地缘政治成熟的迹象：优先考虑防务合作，投资新兴技术，并整合历史上成员国之间分散的运作方式。

乐观是有道理的。但欧洲在国防方面仍然面临一个阻碍：未能充分利用其初创企业。

尽管欧洲防务局是欧盟国防工作的协调中心——协调各国优先事项、促进联合采购并将政治抱负转化为实际行动——但小型、快速发展的高科技公司仍然很难获得准入资格。

这一点至关重要，因为在当今的国防领域，速度的重要性不亚于规模，甚至可能超过规模。创新并非发生在大型的国营研究中心，而是在小型实验室、大学衍生公司和军民两用企业中，这些团队的思考周期以周或月为单位，而非以年为单位。

在乌克兰，正是像这样的公司正在改变世界。由大学生创业者制造的廉价无人机，正在摧毁庞大而昂贵的坦克。

即使是那些并非国防领域的新手——产品已部署在北约行动中的公司——也举步维艰。即便拥有良好的业绩记录，公司也可能会发现欧洲防务局（EDA）的体系晦涩难懂，运作起来也极其缓慢。进入合适的论坛需要内部信息，公开招标的机会寥寥无几，而建立合作关系的道路更是布满繁琐的官僚程序。

中国，或许还有俄罗斯，没有这个问题。它们能迅速将初创企业融入其军工基地，并调动国家庞大的资源来扩大有发展前景的初创企业规模，同时将官僚主义降至最低。

美国也不存在这个问题。国防高级研究计划局（DARPA）对新兴技术进行审慎的投资，公开招标，并支持大胆创新的理念。如今，四分之一的美国国防合同都授予了小型企业，而DARPA的投资也推动了互联网和自动驾驶汽车的发展。

表面上看，欧洲似乎也在效仿。欧洲防务局（EDA）通过欧洲防务基金支持中小企业主导的项目。它正在加强与乌克兰、挪威和美国的联系。它对人工智能、自主系统和材料科学的关注表明，它认识到未来的发展方向。2023年，欧洲防务局管理了100多个研发项目，总价值达6.81亿欧元（7.74亿美元）。

但从战略角度来看，这些投资只是杯水车薪，这些举措目前还只是象征性的姿态。如果欧盟真心想要维护自身的自主性和韧性，就必须扩大国防创新的规模和速度，这意味着要向初创企业敞开大门，邀请它们加入。

让我们务实一些。我们需要的是定期、公开透明地进行公开招标。我们还需要简化加入专家组（例如CapTechs）的流程。我们需要加快拥有相关双用途技术的初创企业的成长，使他们研发的产品能够顺利地从实验室走向实际应用，无需繁琐的手续和文书工作，并进入快速反馈循环，从而实现持续迭代。

我们需要更积极主动的沟通。初创企业必须能够接触到军方的战略规划，才能朝着正确的方向发展，并向军事领导人提出解决方案。如果欧洲真的需要在18个月内具备自卫能力——一些领军人物也确实这样认为——那么欧洲就应该主动出击，主动联系欧洲大陆上每一家有潜力的初创企业，而不是被动等待。

欧洲还必须考虑废除大学中阻止其参与国防活动的民事条款，并将军民两用作为科研经费的先决条件。这很容易做到，却能带来巨大的改变。欧洲拥有世界上一些最杰出的工程师和思想家。我们已经培养了这些人才；为什么还要让他们被边缘化呢？

别误会我的意思：欧洲防务局（EDA）已经取得了诸多成就。它使原本分散的国防格局更加协调统一。这绝非易事。但它还需要做得更多。我们需要文化变革。必须让传统体系之外的人们更容易为欧洲的国防做出贡献。这意味着行动要更迅速，沟通要更清晰，并建立能够反映当今创新实际运作方式的机制。

这样做符合所有人的利益。因为欧洲安全的未来不会由官僚机构构建，而是由那些愿意承担风险、快速行动并重新构想国防未来的人来构建。

他们已经到了。我们只需要让他们进来。

Robert Brüll 是总部位于德国亚琛的 FibreCoat 公司的首席执行官。