Baker's TakeEU reaches political deal on €115 million AGILE programme to fast-track defence tech from small firms
By
Mr Bagel
The Council and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on the AGILE programme, a new €115 million instrument designed to provide rapid financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises developing disruptive defence technologies, according to erc.europa.eu. The programme aims to speed up the transition from prototype to operational capability and reduce strategic dependencies.
AGILE will distribute grants ranging from €1 million to €5 million, euractiv.com reported, with a focus on helping smaller defence players bridge the financing gap between development and scaling production. The programme addresses a key hurdle: securing funding from hesitant commercial banks.
"provide rapid, agile and targeted financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises"
The agreement marks a step toward closing what euractiv.com described as a funding chasm for defence startups that often struggle to get commercial loans for scaling up innovative technologies.
"fast-track funding, testing access and industry matchmaking for SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups"
According to ieu-monitoring.com, grants under AGILE will be awarded within four months, and the programme is expected to become operational in early 2027. It also offers matchmaking services to connect smaller firms with larger industry players and defence customers.
The programme represents a focused effort by EU negotiators to bolster the continent's defence innovation pipeline by channeling targeted investment to the small firms that often generate breakthrough technologies but lack the capital to scale them, as reported by erc.europa.eu.
The reporting
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