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🚨 Berlin Defense Tech Week: Counter-UAS, Build With Ukraine, the Berlin Defense Tech Forum, And More

Fostering Defense Innovation for European Sovereignty

Author

Benjamin Wolba
June 25, 2026

This July, we’re bringing together 1,000+ founders, engineers, operators, investors, policymakers, industry leaders, and military personnel for Berlin Defense Tech Week 2026 — a full week of events focused on the future of European defense and security.

Taking place during the final plenary week of the German Bundestag before the summer recess, Berlin will become the center for everyone building Europe’s future security.

Co-organized with Marienpark Berlin — Berlin’s Resilience Technology Campus —, Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH, and DroneAid Collective.

Here are some events you don’t want to miss:

Counter-UAS Forum — July 7, 2026

Europe faces an urgent question: how do we rapidly develop, test, deploy, procure, and scale the technologies needed to protect our forces, critical infrastructure, and civilian populations?

That is why we are hosting the Counter-UAS Forum, co-organized with Growth Factory, Moodro, and CMS Hasche.

We are excited to welcome Jan-Hendrik Boelens from Alpine Eagle as a speaker.

We will discuss the evolving drone threat landscape, lessons from operators, rapid procurement and acquisition pathways, regulatory considerations for testing and deployment, export controls, and how startups, established industry, investors, regulators, and end users can work together to close Europe’s counter-UAS capability gap.

Build With Ukraine — July 9, 2026

We are gathering European and Ukrainian drone manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and private equity investors in Berlin for a one-day conference: Build With Ukraine.

Following our conference, From Prototype to Arsenal, in May, which explored how Europe can scale drone production by applying principles from the automotive industry, this one is about establishing the partnerships to make it happen.

We are excited to welcome Colonel Dr. Jörg Wissdorf from the Federal Ministry of Defense’s Ukraine Task Force as a confirmed speaker.

This 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.

Berlin Defense Tech Forum — July 8, 2026

Europe needs stronger connections between builders, industry, investors, researchers, and decision-makers to turn ideas into deployed capabilities.

That is why we are hosting the Berlin Defense Tech Forum, co-organized with Marienpark Berlin — the Resilience Technology Campus.

The agenda includes a panel on Evacuation Technologies in Drone-Contested Environments with Bohdan Manzhos, lead developer from the Innovation Unit of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, and Nils van Bruegel, lead developer from the Innovation Division of the Dutch Ministry of Defense, moderated by Howard Hunt, Evacuation Medic and Founder & CEO of The AO.

We will also hear from Brax Kinsey, Capabilities Development Lead at the SOCEUR Theater Edge Innovation Lab, on how defense innovation reaches the tactical edge, and from Christopher Wolters from BLOMSTEIN on how regulatory considerations shape where defense startups should incorporate and raise capital.

The day ends with the EDTH Startup Pitch Session and open networking.

To attend, please join the EDTH Community here — it gives you free tickets not only for this forum, but for all EDTH Community events for one year:

Other Berlin Defense Tech Week events

Legal Forum with V14 — July 8
A workshop for defense tech founders covering fundraising, IP, export controls, government contracting, compliance, and company building.
https://luma.com/legal-forum-2026

European Defense Tech Meetup with Atlantic — July 9
An informal meetup featuring a lightning talk by Yuri Kozik, startup pitches, and networking across the defense innovation ecosystem.
https://luma.com/edth-atlantic-labs-meetup

European Defense Tech Hackathon Berlin — July 9–12
Hosted with Marienpark Berlin: 150+ engineers, founders, operators, and researchers building solutions for real-world security challenges over four days.
https://luma.com/edth-2026-berlin

FPV Arena with Orqa FPV and DroneMasters Academy — July 9
An afternoon of FPV demonstrations, introductory flight experiences, and racing.
https://luma.com/fpv-arena-2026

The New Defense Dinner — July 9
An invitation-only dinner for LPs, GPs, and angel investors backing Europe’s new defense stack.
https://luma.com/new-defense-dinner-2026

Berlin Defense Tech Week is about creating density: the right people, in the right rooms, during the same week, focused on the same mission.

See you in Berlin!