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From Civil to Defence: Funding and Financing for European Readiness

Europe is entering a new phase of defence readiness, driven by increasing geopolitical pressures and the urgent need to strengthen industrial capacity, speed up innovation, and reduce strategic dependencies.


EU and national funding and financial instruments for defence and dual-use technologies are evolving rapidly. Civil programmes are increasingly opening to defence-relevant applications, new defence-dedicated tools are being introduced, and private capital is becoming more active in the sector. In its position paper “From Civil to Defence: Funding and Financing Support to European Readiness,” PwC provides a practical overview of this changing landscape.


The paper highlights how the EU funding and financing architecture is gradually shifting from a fragmented system toward a more coordinated approach aimed at strengthening European readiness. This evolving framework supports the full innovation and industrial lifecycle, from research and development and dual-use technologies to industrial scale-up, infrastructure investment and joint procurement.


The analysis also explores several key developments shaping the ecosystem, including the evolution of EU defence funding across the 2021–2027 and 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Frameworks, the opening of programmes such as Horizon Europe, Digital Europe and Cohesion Funds to dual-use and defence-relevant projects, and the launch of new instruments such as EDIP, SAFE loans and the European Competitiveness Fund.


At the same time, commercial banks, national promotional banks and the European Investment Bank are becoming increasingly engaged, while private investment in defence and dual-use technologies continues to grow across Europe. Through this paper, PwC outlines the main trends and the key factors organisations should consider when preparing to access funding and financing opportunities, helping companies position their projects effectively within the evolving European defence and dual-use ecosystem.


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