Build With Ukraine
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Europe doesn't lack innovation. It lacks the pathways that turn battlefield-proven technology into industrial capacity at scale.
This event is designed to build those pathways.
For the first time, we're bringing together European defense companies, industrial suppliers, and investors to accelerate the next generation of defense manufacturing partnerships.
Co-organized by the European Defense Tech Hub (EDTH) and IPOL GmbH, this event is where these worlds meet.
Together, we will explore one central question:
How do industry, defense companies, and private capital form the partnerships needed to produce what NATO requires?
The focus is practical.
We will discuss partnership structures, financing mechanisms, European-Ukrainian industrial cooperation, and how battlefield-proven systems can navigate NATO procurement processes.
We will also examine production opportunities across Europe and Ukraine, supported by export credit guarantees, investment protections, and emerging public funding instruments.
The event is designed for CEOs and COOs of industrial manufacturers, founders and executives of defense companies, investors active in defense and dual-use technologies, and policymakers shaping Europe's industrial response to a changing security environment.
This conversation builds on our previous conference, From Prototype to Arsenal, which explored how Europe can scale drone production by applying principles from the automotive industry. If that event focused on the blueprint for defense industrialization, this one is about establishing the partnerships to make it happen.
Confirmed Speaker
Colonel Dr. Jörg Wissdorf, Federal Ministry of Defense's (BMVg) Ukraine Task Force
Agenda (10:00 – 17:00)
10:00 – 10:30 | Arrival & Coffee
Informal networking and participant onboarding
10:30 – 11:00 | Opening Keynote — From Arsenal to Alliance
What From Prototype to Arsenal set in motion, and what has happened since
Why joint ventures are now the strategic instrument of German-Ukrainian defense cooperation
11:00 – 12:00 | Session 1 — The Ukrainian Scale-Up Landscape
Showcase of selected Ukrainian manufacturers: products, volumes, production setups
What scale-ups need from European partners: capacity, certification, market access
Lessons from running serial production under wartime conditions
12:00 – 13:00 | Session 2 — Building the Joint Venture
JV structures and the German-Ukrainian footprint: what to produce where
De-risking the Ukrainian leg: federal investment guarantees, Hermes cover, Defense City status
Tax, currency, and compliance essentials for German-Ukrainian structures
13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch & Curated 1:1 Matchmaking
Pre-scheduled meetings between Ukrainian scale-ups, German industrial companies, and investors
14:00 – 15:00 | Session 3 — Financing the Scale-Up
The investor perspective: private equity and growth capital in defense; what makes a JV investable
Public instruments: BMVg direct financing, JV support, Brave1 / Brave Germany, PURL
EU layer: EDIP Ukraine Support Instrument (USI-IRA), AGILE, EDF
15:00 – 16:00 | Panel — Selling to the Alliance
From battlefield-proven to NATO-procurable: standards, certification, qualification
Procurement pathways: national programs, framework contracts, the "Danish Model" and its German equivalent
Export control and regulatory realities for joint German-Ukrainian products
16:00 – 16:30 | Closing & Call to Action
Concrete next steps: pilot joint ventures, matchmaking follow-ups, financing roundtables
17:00 | End (Optional Informal Networking)