As a member of the EIC Scaling Club, you are part of a unique community bringing innovation and solutions to well-known challenges.
You likely already know the markets you want to enter – but have you considered the opportunities in the defence sector? It’s a broad, evolving market that actively seeks new innovations and is eager to diversify its supply chains.
Your innovation could meet the needs of defence end-users, and the European Commission is here to help connect you with the European defence industry. There's a dedicated R&D programme for defence available, along with specific measures to make participation easier for start-ups and scale-ups.
The European Defence Fund (EDF) is the EU’s flagship programme supporting research and development projects with defence applications. Like in Horizon Europe, international consortia can submit proposals aligned with predefined topics or non-thematic calls in the EDF Work Programme.
Because defence-related R&D involves sensitive applications, participation comes with stricter requirements. Typically, only entities established in the EU or Norway can apply. Participants must also meet certain security criteria, and the ownership of participating entities will be reviewed.
The purpose of EDF
The EDF aims to strengthen the European defence industry through collaboration on shared defence needs. Seventeen thematic categories of action have been defined in which the EU Member States want to stimulate cooperation. Many of them are aligned with civil R&D areas such as cybersecurity, space, advanced sensors, disruptive technologies, energy resilience, and innovative materials. As expected, conventional combat-related domains are also well represented.
To encourage SME and start-up involvement, the EU has launched targeted actions under the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS), a core part of the EDF. Through EUDIS, you can take part in defence-focused hackathons, accelerators, receive business coaching, join open non-thematic SME calls, and access matchmaking services with investors or large corporations.
To explore the many opportunities for growing your business in the defence sector, visit the EDF website, the EUDIS website, or reach out to your EDF National Focal Point for tailored advice and information.
Grow your business with the help of EU and EIC funding
Find out more about the EDF and other EU and EIC funding opportunities at the practical workshop during the Ambition Forum on 3 September 2025 in Riga, Latvia.
The session, "Leveraging EU R&D & EIC Funding," will showcase how successful deep tech companies navigate and combine various public funding instruments for optimal scaling. Don’t miss the chance to learn from real-world journeys – from grant acquisition to market validation and scaling up.
Express your interest now and join the Ambition Forum in September!
About the EIC Scaling Club
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
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