On Wednesday, MEPs and the Irish Presidency of the Council reached a provisional political agreement on the creation of a programme for agile and rapid defence innovation (AGILE), a new €115 million instrument designed to provide rapid, agile and targeted financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – including start-ups and scale-ups – developing emerging and disruptive defence technologies. Today’s agreement ensures EU support for SMEs across the EU to be at the centre of defence innovation.

The programme is designed to stimulate innovation with fast-track grants and access to testing and certification. It provides a way for member states to be involved in setting challenges to ensure the products developed met their capability needs. It simplifies procurement of products supported by AGILE.

AGILE seeks to accelerate defence innovation among SMEs across the EU and demonstrate that SMEs and start-ups can provide the technological solutions to Europe’s…