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DELEGATE INFORMATION PAGE
1-2 June 2026, Vilnius, Lithuania
The second edition of the NATO-Ukraine Defence Innovations Forum (DIF) is being co-organised by NATO’s Defence Industry, Innovation & Armaments Division (D2IA), the Lithuanian Ministry of National Defence and Ukraine’s Brave1. The event will take place 1-2 June 2026 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The NATO-Ukraine DIF will provide attendees from across NATO and Ukraine hands-on opportunities to collaborate amongst companies, investors, governments and military personnel actively involved in fielding technology in Ukraine. Over this two-day event, we expect to welcome over 400 participants engaging in the DIF programme.
If you are registered for the NATO-Ukraine DIF but you are unable to attend, please cancel your registration by contacting unite@hq.nato.int.
AGENDA
Day 1: June 1st
TIME | ACTIVITY |
09:30 – 13:00 | Registration and welcome coffee at the venue Networking possible for participants in the venue, registrations open from 9:30am with light refreshments available. |
13:00 – 14:00 | Official event opening of the NATO-Ukraine Defence Innovators Forum 2026 Official event opening plenary by the co-hosts of the 2nd Edition of the NATO-Ukraine Defence Innovators Forum.
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Details TBC
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14:10 – 14:25 | Keynote: Ukrainian Defence Priorities 2026
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14:25 – 15:25 | Panel 1: Fortifying Ukraine: Strengthening Ukraine’s Defence Through International Support Direct engagement of Ukraine’s domestic industry is among the fastest ways to support Ukraine – and is equally of interest to Allies and NATO as the Alliance ingests lessons learned from the war. This industrial approach helps make sure Ukraine’s urgent requirements are met, especially where innovation can help provide asymmetric advantages and stopgap capability shortfalls. In this panel session, senior officials will explain their approaches to supporting innovation as part of national and international efforts to shore up Ukraine’s defence. The panel will cover national and international approaches, explore their success and challenges, lessons learned, and new ideas of how to best activate linkages between Ukrainian and Allied innovation ecosystems. These approaches are designed to empower Ukraine’s defence capabilities while enhancing its local industrial base.
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Coffee Break
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16:05 – 16:35 | Fireside chat 1: Innovation Insights from the Battleground With ever-faster innovation cycles, Ukraine is ground zero for the changing character of warfare. But this has become a tagline, rather than a true understanding of the reality on the ground in Ukraine today. For policymakers, industry, and even investors, understanding how the war is being fought, how technology is being used, and what works and doesn’t for the Ukrainian operators is crucial to channelling support and partnership efforts effectively. During this session, Ukrainian military representatives will level-set the reality, reminding the audience of the current situation on the battlefield in Ukraine. This session will address the impact that participants in the room have on the situation on the frontline, and highlight the lifesaving potential of responding to urgent Ukrainian requirements.
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16:35 – 17:35 | Panel 2: Aligning Ukraine and NATO innovation priorities and objectives Ukraine’s defence is redefining how NATO should think about its own deterrence and defence, starting with lessons learned and deeper alignment of priorities between Ukraine and NATO on innovation objectives. This effort involves activation of all actors in the NATO-Ukraine innovation ecosystem. This panel will explore shared NATO-Ukraine priorities of ingesting lessons learned from the war to be prepared to face evolving air challenges, and having a military prepared with relevant doctrine and innovative capabilities to deter and defend. The discussion will focus on how these priorities can evolve from Ukraine’s immediate wartime needs into shared strategic objectives for the Euro-Atlantic community. Bringing together military leaders, policymakers and defence innovators, the panel will examine what capabilities, partnerships, and technological solutions are required to deliver measurable battlefield impact and strengthen collective security.
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17:35 – 17:45 | Day 1 close
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17:45 – 19:00 | Post event drinks reception |
Day 2: June 2nd
TIME | ACTIVITY |
08:30 - 09:00 | Welcome coffee Arrival and check-in for delegates before the second day of the NATO-Ukraine Defence Innovators Forum starts.
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09:00 - 09:10 | Opening of day 2
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09:10 – 09:25 | Keynote: Distributed Air Defence in Ukraine
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09:25 – 09:45 | Keynote: Ukraine-NATO Innovation, Technology and Engineering: UNITE – Brave NATO The UNITE – Brave NATO programme, NATO’s flagship innovation cooperation programme for innovation projects with Ukraine, launched this year. UNITE – Brave NATO aims to enhance Ukraine’s defence by accelerating the scale-up and adoption of new technological solutions that address critical capability gaps and interoperability requirements. Innovation competitions under UNITE – Brave NATO will focus on rapidly scaling prototyped and tested systems, and will embrace iterative, problem-based contracting that follows NATO’s rapid adoption principles. In this session, the audience will learn more details of the UNITE – Brave NATO programme, including for the first competition on counter-UAS and air defence and plans for the future of UNITE- Brave NATO.
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09:45 – 10:45 | Panel 3: Funding the Future: Programme Pathways for Defence In NATO nations and Ukraine, new partnerships are creating unprecedented opportunities for defence innovators to collaborate, receive funding, and integrate solutions together in interoperable ways. In this session, we will explore innovation programmes available to industry and the problem sets they are trying to address. With industry in the room, our speakers will present their funding programmes and initiatives to practically and holistically show how to get involved.
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10:45 – 11:15 | Coffee Break
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11:15 – 12:15 | Panel 4: AI-Driven decision-making, integration and lessons learned The long-held promise of artificial intelligence’s (AI) role in defence is bearing fruit in Ukraine: already today, AI is playing an increasing role in planning, decision-making and integration. Groundbreaking use-cases are already shaking up capability development. This panel will examine how AI tools are shaping operational decision-making. Experts will discuss real-world deployments of AI, highlighting successes, constraints, and future opportunities to scale the technology in force development. The session will cover practical lessons and recommendations for policymakers, military planners, and technologists aimed at understanding the role of AI, the current state of play in its adoption, and future role in high-intensity conflict.
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12:15 – 13:45 | Lunch
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13:45 – 14:45 | Panel 5: Co-Production & Innovative Business: Building Partnerships for Resilience As Ukraine continues to navigate complex wartime challenges with domestic production, collaboration between local businesses and international partners is more crucial than ever. In recent months, co-production agreements and joint ventures between Ukrainian and Allied companies have moved from hope to reality. Through the “Build in Ukraine, Build with Ukraine” initiative and President Zelenskyy’s Initiative for Security Cooperation with Partners, industry is delivering on new and innovative ways to manufacture and deliver systems to Ukraine at pace and at scale. In this session, a panel of experts actively engaged in co-production and joint ventures will discuss international partnerships, how they started, and how to scale operations with their new partners. Panellists will outline how their efforts pave the way for greater international collaboration, urgent delivery to Ukraine, and integration of Ukrainian lesson learned into NATO.
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Fireside chat 2: Securing the Future: Transforming Defence in Ukraine
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Coffee break
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15:45 – 16:45 | Panel 6: Collaboration & Capital: Investment in NATO-Ukraine Ventures Equity investments into defence companies – across NATO and in Ukraine alike – are trending high at the moment. Defence investors active in Ukraine are not only crucial to financing market entrants fuelling Ukraine’s innovative defence, but are also looking at international collaboration opportunities as essential to their portfolio companies’ growth. Despite positive trends, the defence sector nevertheless remains undercapitalised, be it because of restrictions on capital flows in the first place, or because of lack of access to working capital for companies in their growth phase. This session will spotlight the experiences of investors, including the opportunities and challenges they face, and what they look for when making investment decisions. Attendees will gain insights into the current landscape, challenges faced, and strategies for fostering innovation through investment in a dynamic environment.
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Final Plenary: Where do we go from here? After two days of rigorous discussions and connection building on all things defence innovation, this final panel will focus on converting ideas into sustained action. Panellists will reflect on the innovation, partnerships, and tools highlighted during the conference, identifying the highest-impact opportunities for continued collaboration. The conversation will centre on how to continue to develop the NATO-Ukraine innovation ecosystem, aligning resources across companies, investors and government, as informed by the real-world experience of operational end-users. |
Event location: Vilnius Park Plaza Hotel
Address: M. K. Čiurlionio g. 84, Vilnius, 03100 Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania
This webpage will be updated with additional information as it becomes available.
For any questions regarding the NATO-Ukraine Defence Innovators Forum, please contact unite@hq.nato.int.
