Defence Innovation Day at EDW 2026 to bring together defence and dual-use innovators

Defence Innovation Day at EDW 2026 will bring together defence and dual-use innovators, operational users, investors and public-sector stakeholders to focus on one of Europe’s central questions: how to move faster from innovation to operational capability.

Taking place on 21 September 2026 at Tallinn Creative Hub as part of Estonian Defence Week, the event will feature startup pitches, keynote speakers and panel discussions with people working across defence, technology, investment, government and the wider security ecosystem.

Discussions will address lessons from Ukraine’s battlefield innovation, the path from prototype to deployment, and the question of who builds, who scales and who brings new capabilities to users. The programme will also explore how investment can be attracted into dual-use technologies, how products can be validated with end-users and how development risks can be managed in a sector where timelines are short, trust is essential and operational relevance has to be proven early.

The programme will also examine internal security, national resilience and the protection of critical infrastructure in a hybrid threat environment, where digital and physical resilience can no longer be treated as separate challenges.

The event is organised by Tehnopol Science and Business Park through the NATO DIANA Estonian Accelerator. It is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the City of Tallinn. One thematic block is shaped with input from Sparkup Tartu Science Park.