How Europe is building its own DARPA to counter the drone threat

""We need to have a fundamentally different way of funding innovation if we want to see different results," says Jano Costard, head of challenges at SPRIND. "If we as SPRIND would have just copied what everybody else did, then what would be our added value?""

"Both agencies are modeled on DARPA, the U.S. defense agency credited with creating and later popularizing the internet and GPS, but with the military framing stripped away."

"SPRIND, founded in 2019 and operational from 2020, was given unusual legal latitude in how it spends money, including a 2023 act of parliament in Germany that allowed it to take equity stakes in startups, something most German public bodies cannot do."

"Europe as a whole needs to invest more in radical breakthrough innovation, and we also..."

Germany's SPRIND and Sweden's Vinnova have united to support European teams developing anti-drone technology for critical infrastructure protection. This partnership aims to enhance Europe's innovation capabilities amid global challenges. The collaboration is a response to concerns about Europe's competitiveness in radical innovation, as highlighted by Mario Draghi's report. SPRIND, established in 2019, has unique funding flexibility, allowing it to invest in startups, while Vinnova has a long history of fostering innovation. Together, they seek to drive significant advancements in defense technology.

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