EUDIS Hackathons & Mentoring: Empowering Defence SMEs
Client
European Defence Fund (EDF)Client overview:
The EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS) is an instrument enabled by the European Defence Fund (EDF) that aims to strengthen defence innovation across the European Union. It offers tailored instruments designed for SMEs, start-ups, researchers, and other non-traditional players.
EUDIS facilitates entry into the defence sector, opening new avenues for innovators to contribute to Europe’s technological sovereignty. By supporting the entire development cycle – from concept to market– EUDIS helps promising solutions mature, scale, and successfully reach defence markets.
Challenge:
Europe’s defence sector needs to innovate faster to meet growing security demands. There’s a significant gap between the established defence industry and the agile civilian tech ecosystem.
To bridge this, the EU must:
- Lower entry barriers for non-traditional defence players.
- Create clear pathways for start-ups and researchers.
- Attract new talent from universities and related industries.
- Develop scalable solutions that enhance EU defence capabilities.
This is crucial for the competitiveness, resilience, and sovereignty of Europe’s defence sector.
Our Approach:
Civitta leads a multi-partner consortium delivering the EUDIS Hackathon and Mentoring Programme. This initiative, funded by the European Defence Fund, involves managing the entire project lifecycle.
Its core mission is to bridge the gap between Europe’s most promising innovators and critical defence requirements. The programme is structured around two key pillars:
Pan-European Defence Hackathons, that offer:
- Annual organization of two major hackathons.
- Each event hosts over 400 participants across eight simultaneous locations.
- Participation from diverse teams, including students, start-ups, and researchers.
- Focus on high-priority challenges, such as Hardware Innovations for Ukrainian Defence and Space-Enhanced Situational Awareness.
Targeted Mentoring Programme, that offers:
- Access for winning teams to a two-month mentoring track
- 40 hours of tailored guidance from 100+ industry experts
- Support with tech validation, business modelling, and market entry in the defence sector
Results & Impact:
- Mobilized hundreds of European innovators to tackle critical defense challenges.
- Provided mentoring and industry connections to numerous start-ups and research teams.
- Created new pathways for non-traditional participants to access the European Defence Fund.
- Fostered enhanced collaboration between the civil technology and defense ecosystem.
Key Takeaways:
The EUDIS Hackathons and Mentoring Programme demonstrates how the EU can successfully:
- Attract fresh talent into the defence sector from universities and related industries
- Lower barriers for SMEs and start-ups to contribute to defence innovation
- Accelerate the maturity of early-stage solutions through targeted mentoring
- Strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty by fostering collaboration between civil and defence ecosystems
Civitta’s expertise made a difference by:
- Designing and managing a large-scale pan-European programme
- Bringing together 400+ participants, 100+ mentors, and diverse partners
- Applying proven innovation and acceleration models to the defence industry
- Creating a scalable, replicable framework for future EU innovation programmes
The lessons learned are applicable beyond defence, to any sector where innovation is needed to bridge the gap between deep tech, start-ups, and traditional industries.
