Government introduces a unified procedure and clear rules for work with international partners to advance defense innovations—Brave International

The Government has approved a unified framework and clear rules for cooperation with international partners to develop defense innovations—Brave International. This was announced by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

“The decision applies to both existing and future international initiatives, including UNITE Brave NATO, Brave Norway, Brave France, Brave Germany, and Brave Lithuania. It gives the green light for the rapid launch of joint grant competitions under these programs,” explained the Head of Government. 

According to her, not only Ukrainian companies but also developers and startups from foreign jurisdictions are free to participate in these programs.

The total budget for the first international programs and support instruments under Brave International already exceeds EUR 100 million.

The Brave International initiative has three key objectives:

- Identify new technologies and products to meet the current needs of the Ukrainian Defence Forces;

- Attract additional funding to support Ukrainian defense startups;

- Deepen cooperation with partners’ innovation ecosystems and further integrate Ukrainian defense tech into the global defense technology market.

Prime Minister told the program provided for the creation of joint grant funds based on equal financial contributions from Ukraine and partner countries, with joint supervisory boards and expert committees to ensure transparent and professional evaluation of applications. Grant competitions will be open to both Ukrainian applicants and foreign companies. All technologies will undergo mandatory testing and validation in Ukraine through the existing Test in Ukraine platform.

"Thanks to this new framework, the Brave1 defense technology cluster will launch its first joint international competitions in the near future," stressed Yulia Svyrydenko.