BRUSSELS, 13th October, 2026 (WAM) -- The European Commission welcomed the adoption of the Regulation establishing Programme for agile and rapid defence innovation (AGILE) which will bring disruptive defence technology from the lab to the field at record speed.
The new €115 million funding tool will provide dedicated support to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), including start-ups and scale ups to develop innovative defence solutions and support their uptake.
The work programme will cover two main types of activities: mission-driven development of disruptive defence products and technologies and market delivery by helping defence solutions reach the actual markets.
AGILE has been adopted in record time, in less than seven months after the Commission tabled its proposal in March 2026. The swift adoption reflects EU's commitment to strengthen Europe's capacity to innovate.
Europe's ability to develop, test, and deploy new technologies and cost-efficient solutions in weeks or months rather than years is now being tested. AGILE responds to this need by giving innovative smaller players the support and speed they need to bring promising defence solutions to the armed forces. In practice, the programme will support startups and tech innovators with faster, more flexible funding and allow innovations to be deployed as quickly as possible.