DefenceTech Meetup #1 - Lisbon, Portugal

Vision and Goals: The primary aim of the 1st Defence Tech Meetup is to create a Defence Tech cluster in Portugal, bringing together key technology and defence players, accelerating Defence Tech startups, and making Portugal an attractive hub for innovation in this sector.

Historical Context and Industry Evolution: The presentation provides an overview of the evolution of the Portuguese military industry from the 1970s to the present, highlighting significant shifts such as the privatisation of military capabilities and Portugal's integration into international defence and space programs.

Innovation and Defence Linkage: Emphasis on the historical linkage between innovation and defence, citing examples like the military genesis of Silicon Valley and the Cold War's technological dividends that fueled the digital economy, highlighting the potential for similar growth in Portugal.

Proposals for Growth: Recommendations include promoting dual-use technologies and open innovation, streamlining procurement processes, supporting and financing new ICT/BTID companies, and creating a Defence Startup Accelerator to spur innovation and economic growth.

Current and Future Technologies: Discussion on emerging defence technologies such as drone warfare, advancements in AI, and new military applications, along with the importance of integrating these innovations to enhance Portugal's defence capabilities and economic resilience.

1. ACCELERATE DEFENSE
THROUGH TECH
& INNOVATION
1st Defence Tech meetup in Portugal
1

2. 2
Welcome to the 1st Defence
Tech Meetup ??????

June 25th, Lisbon

3. VISION
CREATE A DEFENCE TECH
CLUSTER IN PORTUGAL
3

4. 41. Bring together key-tech and Defence players in Portugal

5. 52. Accelerate the Defence Tech startups

6. 63. Make Portugal an attractive cluster

7. 7
Olga Felipova
When War Comes Home:
A Personnel Testimony
10 mins

8. 8
André Marquet
Defence Tech in Portugal:
A Context

9. •Introduction & Historical Review
•The (missing) link between innovation and defence
•Defence challenges as opportunities
•Proposals to boost the sector in Portugal
AGENDA

10. "Golden years" of the National Defence Industry:

Inactivated:
•Military Factory of Braço de Prata (FMBP)
•Fundição De Oeiras (FCMO)
•Santa Clara Military Factory (FMSC),
•National Small Arms Ammunition Factory (FNMAL)
Active:
•Military Maintenance (MM)
•Military Chemical and Pharmaceutical
Products Laboratory (LMPQF)
•Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronáutico (OGMA).
•Arsenal do Alfeite (AA)
Heckler & Koch G3
Morteirete Ammunition
Portuguese military
industry (1970s-1980s)

11. •
Restructuring the sector (gradual privatisation and extinction of ammo capabilites)
•Portugal's entry into the ESA provokes a Cambrian explosion in space;
EID -> Rohde&Schwarz OGMA -> Embraer New private companies
Edisoft -> Thales ETI -> Privatised ENVC -> Martifer
Portuguese military
industry (1990s-2010s)

12. The link between innovation
and defence
The military genesis of Silicon Valley:
“Fairchild Semiconductor is considered
the pioneering start-up of today’s Silicon
Valley. It got its first business through
military contracts, helped build missiles
that armed the US in the Cold War. The
Polaris missile was developed by
Lockheed Missiles in Sunnyvale in
1956-57. The first initial public offering
from Silicon Valley was in 1956 for a
company called Varian, that sold
microwave tubes for military
applications.”

-By Jerry Bowles

13. 1970s-1980s
•
The MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)
doctrine prevented a nuclear war.
•For a conventional war in Europe, the
disparity of forces leaned towards the Soviet
Union.
•The "offset" strategy consisted of building
"smart weapons" using microprocessors,
electronics and computers that only the US
/West could produce.
Cold War Offset

14. End of the Cold War (SDI)
•In the mid-1980s the Soviet Union was no longer
able to maintain technological parity with the US in
the so-called "ongoing military technological
revolution"
•The announcement of the Strategic Defence Initiative
(SDI) helped increase this feeling of technological
incapacity in the USSR.
•After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was a
consequent recession in defence budgets in the
NATO and ex-Soviet blocs.

15. Cold War tech dividend was huge
•CW’s technological dividend has been felt to
date, enabling the emergence of the
so-called digital economy.
•Internet - DARPA
•Wireless broadband - US Navy
•GPS – US Army
•Digital cameras - NASA
•Touch screens, Siri R&D - DARPA

In fact, 9 of the 12 main chip
manufacturers of the iPhone 15 were
founded during the Cold war, mostly
because of with DoD contracts.

16. Gulf War: Western Hegemony
Decade 1990-2000
•Overwhelming Western military
dominance over Soviet era hardware and
tactics.

•In 1990, Pentagon pre-war studies
expected over 20.000 casualties among
western coalition forces in Gulf. Real
numbers were much lower (~250).

•The West had learned to effectively defeat
semi-assimetric adversaries in
conventional warfare scenarios.

17. Afghanistan / Iraq wars
Decades 2000-2020
●Challenges were characterised by
uncertainty and are particularly suited to
lean management (still Afghnistan cost was
over 1T€).

●In order to combat the insurgency in
Afghanistan and Iraq, the US AF created the
Rapid Equipping Force (REF) as a result of
the need to assemble equipment quickly.

●Objectives were to deliver technology to
soldiers on the front line in days and weeks
instead of months/years using solutions
from previous REF efforts or products
bought on the market with government
credit cards, and 10 pagers.

18. UKR-RF, IL-PL, Red Sea, Ormuz, China
Sea, NK
Decade 2020s
●Emergence of Drone Warfare: Drones, as
cost-effective as landmines, are becoming the
new personnel landmines, with skilled operators
playing a crucial role.
●The dominance of Chinese-made technology
makes tech sanctions ineffective, while Iran
leads in drone technology and North Korea has
become a thermonuclear missile power.
●Russia's War Economy vs. Europe's Civilian:
Russia has shifted to a full war economy,
outproducing Europe and the US in tanks and
ammunition, while Europe remains in a civilian
economy mode, not retooling factories as in
WWII.
•
•

19. Weapons Systems
(decades 2010-2020)
•Programmes under development/ in deployment:
UAVs - Productise KC390 transport aircraft
Simulators & Communications
& Strategic Information,
renewable energies
New
startups
Startups
New
Low-cost missiles and
155mm shells
New
startups
Cybersecurity
New
startups
Cyber-
defence
New
startups

20. New
startups
5th Generation
fighter
New
startups
Satellite Maritime surveillance
(challenge cost: 130M€ - PRR)
Air Defence – Euro Shield
(cost-challenge: 150M€) IL - 200M€
Portuguese military industry
(2020-2030)
•Programmes in development/ to be developped:
New startups (problems and
solutions)
Logistics, Training, Health,
3D, Repairs
New
startups
AUVs and
seabed
New
startups
Naval Strike Missile Clone
(challenge cost: 35M€)
New
startups
New
startups

21. Proposal i. Double STEAM talent in PT
Universties by 2030
Cyber security/
Cyber defence
Systems
Engineering
Artificial
Intelligence
Renewables
Engineering
Propulsion systems
Geological
Engineering
Robotics
Subsea
bed
control
Mining Engineering
UAVs
Engineering
Software
Telecom
Engineering
Materials &
Industrial
Engineering
AUVs
Real-time
Electronics
simulation
Image
recognition
Transport
aviation
Aeronautics
Satellite
technology
Aerospace
Maritime
surveillence

22. ●Spur the Iceberg effect: To Promote
Dual-Use Technologies and Open
Innovation

●Streamline Procurement and Access to
Advanced Tools by PT/ NATO military

●Support and Finance New ICT/ BTID
Companies by VCs
Proposal ii. Create a Defense Startup
Accelerator

23. Gaming
AI
Web3
Cleantech
Foodtech

Let’s put
DefenseTech in the
map!
Proposal iii. Make Defense a hub of
Lisbon Unicorn Factory

24. "Necessity is the mother of
all invention"
- Plato

25. 25
João Montenegro
State-of-the-Art Tech in
Defence - International

26. 26
Current global conflict map by fatalities
CONTEXT

27. 27
DEFENCE TECH IS
QUICKLY ESCALATING
COMPLEXITY
CONTEXT
Space
Air
Ground
Water
Cyber
Electro-
magnetic
warfare
NATO Joint Air Power Competence Centre

28. 28
Global new players map
CONTEXT
Notable mentions:

29. 29
Global sat coms Hypersonics (WIP)
Great advancements in CV AI
DYI interceptor drones Cheap electronic componentsAdvanced interceptor drone-missiles

30. 30
Starlink & starshield
Super constellations appearing
Defence dedicated coms (anti-jam)
Hyperspectral (high-res)Infra-red (low res)

31. 31
AI in defence
The new warfare tech-stack
CONTEXT
Find anything AI enabled DIY Impersonation Remote control
Massive automation
Automated data
analytics

32. Defence tech strongly impacts the economy
32
CONCLUSION
Importance of a robust
DefenceTech industry in Europe.
Innovation in Defence as a source
of economic growth.

33. 33
Illia Sheremet
State of the nation: Ukraine.
The Drone warfare Perspective
-Presentation

34. 34
José Rodrigues, José Folhadela Furtado CEIIA, Pedro
Costa (PTSpace)
Strategies for the Portuguese
Defence Economy.
Moderator: Felipe Pathé Duarte

35. 35
Rodolfo Condessa (Armilar), Rui Pereira(Square), Rui
Falcão (Coreangels), Ricardo Conde (PTSpace)
Smart Investments for
Portuguese VCs in Defense Tech
Moderator: Maria Luisa Moreira

36. 36
STORIES IN DEFENCE
Startups innovation while doing
business in defense
By: Mike Butcher

Illia Sheremet, Limor Schweitzer (Mov.ai), Dario Pedro
(Beyond Vision), João Gaspar (Swatter Company)

37. 37
Key Takeaways and Next Steps
for Portugal’s DefenseTech
Journey
Andre Marquet

38. 38

39. 39