A. Armonaitė: Europe needs to wake up and invest more in military industry
Speaking at Web Summit, a global technology conference in Lisbon, Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation, said that Europe must open up even more opportunities for start-ups in the defence and security industry. This, according to the Minister, will help build a safer and stronger future for Europe as a whole.
“The last four years have been truly turbulent, not only because of the oppressive war that Europe is engaged in, but also because of the pandemic. But this situation has also shown that every crisis is an opportunity: the pandemic has seen record growth in our biotechnology sector, and the current war in Europe is waking Europe up to the fact that it needs to invest in defence technology and military industry.
And technology on the battlefield is no longer a matter of years, but of weeks. Therefore, our job is to remove barriers, open up avenues for investment in these technologies, and do everything we can to help our security and defence start-ups grow,” said A. Armonaitė in a discussion with Alex Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
The Minister also presented MILInvest, a venture capital fund worth EUR 13 million, which is designed to help defence start-ups grow, contributing to the strengthening of the defence innovation ecosystem in Lithuania. According to A. Armonaitė, this fund is a key source of support for research projects, prototyping, and innovative initiatives.
Lithuania is also an active participant in international defence innovation initiatives. The country has joined the NATO Innovation Fund for deep tech, which enables defence start-ups to receive funding for the development and improvement of advanced products.
“We are open to initiating new projects and joint initiatives with our partners to contribute to the security of the whole region and to the early victory of Ukraine. By participating in such programmes, our start-ups are directly contributing to national resilience by developing technologies that are used to address the immediate security challenges facing NATO and Lithuania,” said A. Armonaitė.
This year’s event also covered artificial intelligence, cyber security, digital marketing, and sustainability. For the third year running, Lithuania also had a stand at the event, which was set up by the Innovation Agency. The stand not only showcased Lithuania’s start-up ecosystem, but also provided an opportunity for our start-ups to network with potential partners and investors.
The conference was attended by representatives of various Lithuanian start-ups, including Coherent Solutions, Caasify, STEAM Minds, HUBBOX IoT, Linkpricer UAB, Traxlo, sscouthub.vc, and Walk15.
Web Summit is one of the largest annual technology conferences in the world, held in Lisbon. It is now in its 15th year since 2009. This year’s event is estimated to have attracted more than 70,000 participants from all over the world, including more than 1,000 investors and more than 3,000 start-ups. The largest global technology event brings together CEOs, founders, investors, media and political representatives from around the world.