Ukraine and Norway launch Brave-Norway programme: €20 million to boost defence tech development in both countries

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence have signed a memorandum on partnership in the field of defence innovation development, Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced.

The partnership includes the launch of the Brave-Norway programme, with a preliminary budget of €20 million. The programme will focus on:

• launching grant support for startups developing innovations in UAVs and other defence technologies;
• holding joint hackathons to find practical solutions capable of changing the situation on the battlefield;
• creating modern platforms to integrate research institutions.

On the Ukrainian side, the programme will be implemented by the Brave1 defence innovation cluster. Of the total funding, €10 million provided by Norway’s Innovation Development Fund will go toward grants for developing game-changing technologies for the battlefield, to be tested in Ukraine.