Finding solutions often takes far too long in the Bundeswehr
Until now, the Bundeswehr with its planned economy and innovative startups that quickly adapt to developments were two opposites that were hardly compatible. Julian Werner of the Bundeswehr University In Munich this must change as soon as possible:
"As soldiers, we live in a bubble. We're in our barracks all week. And often we don't even know what technical solutions already exist for problems we repeatedly encounter in operations. What we first need is dialogue with founders and investors. And then we have to look for solutions that will make our soldiers safer or actually help us save lives."
Just as innovations in the field Health Tech. A sector that receives too little attention from the Bundeswehr, explains Werner:
"Often these are startups that have invented a very specific solution, for example, for hospitals. But in dialogue, we then discover that if you paint the product green and make it a bit more compact, it can also be transferred to a field hospital."
The same applies to the entire logistics of the operation. Werner himself was stationed in the desert and relied on weekly food deliveries by outdated diesel vehicles:
“Anything we can find in this area in terms of autonomous or self-sufficient supply makes our lives easier and safer.”
Startups in the resilience sector have good opportunities
Developments that Defense startups can take advantage of. Felix Kästner, co-founder of BASED, an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, says:
"A lot of money is currently being invested in the market. This is leading some startups to also build a use case for it. There are two types of startups we're currently seeing. One is startups that have previously been purely civilian and are now opening up a dual-use case. And there are startups that are focusing on pure defense from the very beginning. For example, they build drones that were actually built for military use."
Above all, however, the potential and need of the defence industry lies in the area of resilience, according to Kästner:
"It's about protecting our democratic values, and that requires technological sovereignty. Unfortunately, deterrence, too, to a certain extent. If you turn the whole thing toward resilience, then startups also have a very, very important contribution they can make. This is about civil protection, the protection of critical infrastructure, and even defense capability. It's worth investing in."
Defense technology startups received around three billion US dollars in venture capital worldwide in 2024. This significantly exceeded the previous peak from 2022 (2.6 billion USD), according to a recent analysis by the data platform Crunchbase. A topic that was also discussed on a panel of the Munich Startup Festivals was discussed.
