Danish Defense Tech Meetup: Winning the Waters
Danish Defense Tech Meetup: Winning the Waters
Defense Innovation Highway is pleased to host the first Defense Tech Meetup of 2026, this time with a dedicated focus on naval defense and maritime technologies.
Denmark is surrounded by seas and has long, proud naval traditions. We are a maritime nation with strong industrial foundations, advanced technological capabilities, and close international partnerships. The key question is how these strengths are translated into relevant and effective naval capabilities in 2026 and beyond.
The war in Ukraine has demonstrated how naval power can be redefined. With limited resources, Ukraine has repeatedly converted innovation, speed, and unconventional thinking into unexpectedly strong maritime capabilities, fundamentally challenging Russia’s naval dominance in the Black Sea.
What can Denmark learn from this? And how can Danish traditions, institutions, and industry be combined with Ukrainian battlefield experience to build a modern naval defense with the potential to be among the strongest and most adaptive in the world?
These questions will be explored with Dennis Kanin, one of Ukraine’s leading specialists in unmanned maritime systems, alongside Danish experts representing several areas of Danish naval defense and maritime technology.
Join us for a focused discussion on naval innovation, unmanned systems, and the future of maritime security in a changing threat environment.
The Defense Tech Meetup brings together key actors from the defense tech ecosystem to share frontline insights and strengthen collaboration through expert perspectives, dialogue, and networking.
Speaker profiles
Dennis Kanin is a recognized expert in unmanned surface, riverine, and underwater drones and a member of Ukraine’s national working groups on unmanned maritime systems. He works closely with Ukrainian manufacturers, innovators, and operators and collaborates extensively with the Ukrainian Navy, Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the Unmanned Forces of Ukraine.
Beyond maritime systems, Dennis has been involved in advanced projects related to UAVs, guided aerial bombs (KABs), and combat aerostats, giving him deep insight into how defense technologies are developed, tested, and deployed under real operational conditions.