Europe has spent years discussing defence, innovation and preparedness. According to speakers at the Nordic Defence and Security Conference, the time for discussion is over. The lesson from Ukraine is clear: speed is now a military capability in its own right. Those who learn and adapt fastest gain the advantage.

The most valuable resource is Time

While representatives from finance, industry and defence highlighted procurement, financing and supply chains as critical challenges, the strongest messages came from Ukraine-focused speakers Birger Steen, CEO of NORSAR and co-founder of the GARDAR venture fund, and Isaac C. Flanagan, co-founder of Zero Line, a US-based nonprofit working directly with the Armed Forces of Ukraine to advance technology-enabled warfighting.

Based in Kyiv since 2022, Flanagan has spent thousands of hours embedded with Ukrainian military units and has worked extensively on transferring frontline lessons and innovation from Ukraine to allied defence forces. He also co-authored The Autonomous Battlefield with General David Petraeus in Foreign Affairs. His work focuses on unmanned systems, command-and-control modernisation and the rapid adoption of battlefield innovation.

Birger Steen, CEO Norsar and co-founder of Gardar. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Steen illustrated the point with one of the most widely discussed examples from the war. On 24 February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky famously declared that he did not need a ride out of Kyiv, but ammunition. According to Steen, it then took 912 days before key Western decisions and capabilities finally aligned with the urgency of the battlefield.

“I would really like to understand why that decision could not have been made in 912 seconds instead of 912 days,” Steen told the audience, arguing that Europe must dramatically reduce decision-making timelines if it is serious about preparedness and deterrence

Birger Steen. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

“The most expensive thing in the universe right now is the time of Ukrainians defending us on the frontline,” he said. “It is a crime to waste that time.”

Using examples from defence procurement, regulatory processes and investment decisions, Steen challenged European governments and institutions to rethink their pace of decision-making. He pointed to situations where decisions that could have been made in days or weeks instead took years.

For Steen, the issue is not a lack of resources but an inability to act with sufficient urgency.

Isaac C. Flanagan, co-founder of Zero Line. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

The Fastest Learner Wins

Drawing on four years of experience living and working in Kyiv, Flanagan described a battlefield where technologies evolve in a matter of weeks.

“The fastest learner wins,” he told the audience. “Readiness is not something you own. It is something you lease.”

According to Flanagan, Ukraine’s greatest advantage is not drones or any specific technology. It is the ability to adapt rapidly and transform lessons from the battlefield into institutional change.

He described how Ukrainian units continuously experiment, gather operational feedback and update tactics and technologies accordingly. By contrast, Western organisations often require lengthy approval cycles before changes can be implemented.

“Learning without institutional change is tourism,” Flanagan said.

Lars Alstrup, Nordic Head of Mid-Corp Commercial Banking at Danske Bank. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Procurement must match wartime innovation

Earlier in the session, speakers from finance and industry highlighted many of the same challenges.

Lars Alstrup of Danske Bank argued that the issue is no longer whether funding is available, but whether capital can reach companies quickly enough to support growth and delivery. He pointed to guarantees, working capital and predictable demand as three recurring challenges facing defence suppliers across the Nordic region.

“We cannot expect our companies to innovate at wartime pace if we do our procurements and our financing solutions at peacetime pace,” Alstrup said.

Lars Alstrup, Danske Bank. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Hans Hurrød of PwC presented findings showing a rapidly expanding defence market and a strong Nordic industrial base. However, he warned that complex procurement systems are increasingly becoming the limiting factor for growth.

“The market is there. The Nordic industrial base is substantial, and companies are ready to grow,” Hurrød said. “The remaining task is to make sourcing as strategic and urgent as the security environment.”

Hans Jakob Hurrød, Director of Strategy&Nordic, PwC. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Cato Giil Eliassen of Kongsberg Discovery added that resilient supply chains must now be viewed as a strategic capability rather than a traditional procurement function, highlighting security of supply, scalability and industrial resilience as key priorities for the coming decade.

Yet all roads led back to the same conclusion: Europe cannot expect wartime innovation while operating with peacetime processes.

Cato Giil Eliassen, VP Business Development, Kongsberg Seatex.  Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

Cato Giil Eliassen of Kongsberg Discovery added that resilient supply chains must now be viewed as a strategic capability rather than a traditional procurement function. He warned that Europe is undergoing a structural transformation in defence production that requires industry to think beyond efficiency and focus on endurance, scalability and resilience.

The panel discussion was moderated by Jan Erik Larsen. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri

“Defence capability is not only a matter of budgets, plans and political decisions,” Eliassen said. “Defence capability is also industrial delivery capability. It is production capacity. It is supply chain. It is access to critical components, raw materials, expertise, test capacity, certification, transport and financing.”

According to Eliassen, Europe must start treating supply chains as a strategic capability rather than a procurement function. Increased defence spending creates opportunities, but industry must ensure it can convert demand into qualified and repeatable delivery, even in an increasingly volatile global environment.

“The Vacation Is Over” was the title of a keynote session examining how faster acquisition processes, accelerated innovation and more resilient supply chains can strengthen Nordic and European defence capabilities. Photo: Lars Bugge Aarset/Fremtidens Industri