BraveTech EU was announced on 11 July 2025 by European Commissioner Andrius Kubilius and Ukrainian Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. The initiative was developed in close cooperation with Ukraine’s defence innovation cluster Brave1 and is intended to speed up the development of technologies that address urgent operational needs, particularly those arising from the battlefield in Ukraine.
The programme is structured in two phases and combines rapid identification of promising technologies with practical validation in real-world conditions. The first phase, known as “DefTech Forges”, was awarded to a consortium made up of Civitta, Starburst Accelerator and Darkstar.
That phase is focused on identifying and selecting the most promising solutions from innovators across Europe. The second phase, now assigned to the European Defence Agency, will test and assess those technologies in environments designed to closely mirror operational conditions and scenarios drawn from the war in Ukraine.
Implementation of the initiative is already underway, with the first DefTech Forges events scheduled to take place in June in Estonia and France. Initial testing and evaluation activities are expected later this year.
The European Commission said the initiative is intended to strengthen Europe’s defence innovation ecosystem while delivering practical support for Ukraine’s immediate operational requirements. No direct quotes were included in the original statement.
Source: European Commission (press release).
