€20 million for defense technology development: Ukraine and Norway launch Brave-Norway program

Ukraine and Norway have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of defense innovation, which provides for the launch of a joint program called Brave-Norway with a preliminary budget of €20 million.

This was announced by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

According to him, Brave-Norway will become a new stage in the partnership between the countries in the development of military technologies and innovations. The program will include:

• grant support for startups that create solutions in the field of unmanned systems and modern defense technologies;

• joint hackathons to find practical solutions that can change the situation on the battlefield;

• creating platforms for integrating research institutions and accelerating technological developments.

On the Ukrainian side, the program will be implemented by the Brave1 defense innovation cluster. 

Norway will allocate €10 million through the Innovation Development Fund, which will be used to provide grant support to developers of defense solutions — the so-called “game changers” of war, which will be tested directly in Ukraine.

Read more: Ukrainian HIMERA fulfilled its first state order for a NATO member country