The 2024 Annual Report from the European Defence Agency (EDA) gives us many reasons to be optimistic. It shows a continent waking up to the need for more cooperation, faster and better innovation and more intelligent investment in security. But for all the progress Europe is making — and that shouldn’t be dismissed — it still lags behind the United States and China in one absolutely critical area: harnessing the power of startups.

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Robert Brüll, is the CEO of FibreCoat, which manufactures super-resistant, radiation-shielding materials with applications in the space and defence industries.