Ukraine and Norway launch €20 million program for defense tech: What’s envisaged?
Drone Industry
Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation and Norway’s Ministry of Defence have signed a memorandum of cooperation, a strategic partnership document on developing defense innovation.
As part of the cooperation, the Brave-Norway program will be launched, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said.
The program’s preliminary budget is €20 million.
In particular, Brave-Norway provides for:
- launching grant support for startups developing innovations in UAVs and other defense technologies;
- joint hackathons to identify practical solutions that can change the situation on the battlefield;
- establishing modern platforms to integrate research institutions.
On the Ukrainian side, the program will be implemented by the Brave1 defense innovation cluster.
Of the total, €10 million provided by Norway to the Innovation Development Fund will go toward a grant program to develop game-changing wartime technologies, which will be tested in Ukraine.
In late September, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation and Google announced a new phase of cooperation focused on using artificial intelligence technologies to develop public-sector AI products in Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukraine announced the launch of the private venture fund Ukraine Phoenix Tech Fund, totaling €50 million and established with support from the European Investment Bank.
