EU Council and Parliament reach provisional deal on EUR 115 million AGILE defence innovation programme

The Council and the European Parliament have reached provisional political agreement on the programme for agile and rapid defence innovation, known as AGILE. The new EUR 115 million instrument is intended to provide rapid, agile and targeted financial support to small and medium-sized enterprises, including start-ups and scale-ups, working on emerging and disruptive defence technologies.

Sponsored

The agreement is framed as an EU effort to put SMEs at the centre of defence innovation across the bloc. The text says SMEs are driving technological breakthroughs in critical defence domains in Europe but need support to move from prototype to operational capability.

AGILE is described as responding to that gap with fast-track grants and access to testing and certification. The programme also provides for member states to be involved in setting challenges so that products developed meet capability needs.

It simplifies procurement of products supported by AGILE and is presented as a way to accelerate defence innovation among SMEs across the Union, reduce strategic dependencies, and support the case for increased SME innovation funding in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. The provisional agreement still needs formal endorsement by the Council and the European Parliament, followed by legal and linguistic revision and formal adoption.

Sponsored

Once adopted, the regulation will enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The programme remains on track to become operational from early 2027.

#defenceinnovation #SMEs #startups #scaleups #MultiannualFinancialFramework