Europe Launches Joint Anti-Drone Initiative to Boost Innovation and Security

Germany’s SPRIND, the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, and Sweden’s Vinnova, the country’s innovation agency, are joining forces to support European teams developing anti-drone technology. Traditionally independent, the two agencies are now collaborating to address global security challenges, including threats to airports, nuclear plants, and civilian sites.

One of the teams backed by this initiative is led by Martin Saska, a robotics professor at Czech Technical University in Prague. Saska’s team is developing advanced anti-drone systems as part of the agencies’ joint effort to enhance Europe’s security infrastructure.

The partnership, formalized in 2023, reflects a broader push to accelerate innovation across the continent. A recent report by Mario Draghi on European competitiveness highlighted the need for faster and more radical ideas to reach the market. “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?”

Agencies Modeled After DARPA

Both SPRIND and Vinnova are inspired by the U.S. DARPA, the defense agency credited with creating and popularizing the internet and GPS. However, unlike DARPA, these agencies operate without a military framing. SPRIND, founded in 2019 and operational since 2020, was granted significant legal flexibility, including a 2023 German parliamentary act allowing it to take equity stakes in startups—a rarity for German public bodies. Vinnova, with over two decades of experience, has long followed a similar approach.

Sweden’s innovation success is notable: despite a population of just 10 million, the country has produced more than 500 IPOs in the past decade, surpassing Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands combined. “Europe as a whole needs to invest more in radical breakthrough innovation, and we also need to figure out ways of really supporting the journey to scale,” says Darja Isaksson, director general of Vinnova. “The aim is to make it easy for private sector VC to spot that and to crowd in.”

Why Drones? The Growing Threat

The agencies’ first joint initiative focuses on drones, a choice driven by several factors. Drones have played a significant role in conflicts in the Middle East, and repeated drone sightings over European airports in late 2025 have heightened security concerns. Additionally, there is growing unease about the presence of Russian- and Chinese-made hardware in critical infrastructure, further emphasizing the need for robust anti-drone technology.

However, Europe’s drone sector remains fragmented. Costard warns that without coordinated demand across member states, startups in the space will struggle to build viable businesses. “If every police force that would like to buy drone interceptors posts different requirements, that’s a nightmare for any small startup,” he says.

Tangible Support for Innovators

For founders like Saska, whose company EAGLE.ONE develops drones designed to hunt other drones, the agencies’ support has been transformative. Winning a SPRIND challenge round in 2024 provided critical funding and validation, accelerating the development of his technology.