An insightful evening at Munich Security Conference Innovation Night, bringing together senior stakeholders from across the defense ecosystem to discuss how Europe and its allies can accelerate deployable defense innovation — from AI-driven capabilities and ISR to force protection and critical infrastructure resilience.
Key takeaway: speed-to-field is becoming as important as technological performance. One of the biggest challenges for European startups remains the fragmented landscape — multiple national markets instead of a truly integrated single market — which slows scaling and deployment. Another strong message echoed by all speakers: funding is not the main problem; regulations and the lack of structured dialogue between innovators, industry, and institutions remain major barriers.
The evening, coordinated by Foreign Policy, featured valuable perspectives from Major General Karol Molenda, Commander of the Polish Cyber Command; Brian Moran, Vice President Continental Europe at Anduril; Dame Fiona Murray, Chair of the Board of the NATO Innovation Fund; and Balázs Nagy, Co-Founder & CEO of TYTAN Technologies, in a discussion hosted by Ravi Agrawal, Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy.
