Defence Tech & Cyber Arena
Defence and cyber is where some of the most critical innovation is happening right now. The potential unlocks when startups meet end-users from defence, when civilian expertise brings new perspectives, when investors believe in the field, and when good ideas find their way from lab to application.
Defence Tech & Cyber Arena is built to make that happen 🏆
On August 27 from 9:30–11:30 The Danish Industry Foundation is proud to open the doors to the Defence Tech & Cyber Event Room and Stage for founders, investors, researchers, procurement professionals, and defence industry partners.
Defence Tech & Cyber Arena programme:
9:30 - Opening Keynote: Lindsay Heil, Chief of International Cooperation at DARPA, on how DARPA is speeding up defence innovation through startups and emerging tech.
10:00 - Panel conversation on frontline defence innovation, with Esben Gadsbøll (moderator, Defense Innovation Highway), Mykyta Rozhkov (Frontline Robotics, Ukraine) and Erlend Prestgard (investor, Norway). Bringing battle-tested lessons from Ukraine’s defence tech ecosystem directly into the room, and exploring how Nordic capital and industry can build on them.
10:25 - Closing Keynote Conversation: “From Secrecy to Scale” — a senior national security official from GCHQ, Government Communications Headquarters - the UK's intelligence, security and cyber agency. They will speak on how a secret, risk-aware state can create an open, fast and investable innovation market, without sacrificing security, democratic oversight or strategic autonomy.
10:55 - Roundtable discussions introduced by each roundtable host, followed by 8 parallel roundtables where participants can join the conversation and dig deep into the topics shaping defence tech today:
EIFO on closing the validation gap between startup ideas and defence contracts
Di5 on partnering with Primes to build battlefield capabilities faster
DARPA on international cooperation as an innovation accelerant Nordic Air Defence on turning capital into contracts in a conservative, regulated industry
Frontline Robotics on the speed of Ukraine’s innovation cycles
Terma on how primes can adopt rapid innovation cycles at scale
Danish Defence Command on AI at the front line
Across both days of TechBBQ, visit the exhibition floor and meet the startups and SMEs pushing defence and dual-use technology forward.
Behind the Defence Tech & Cyber Arena: Industriens Fond · DefenceTech Denmark · Defense Innovation Highway · Next Generation Cybersecurity · Cyber Angel Academy