Innovation under fire: How Ukraine’s citizens, academics, and industry have accelerated civil and military innovation

About the event

The defense of Ukraine has revealed the extraordinary capacity of a society to innovate under extreme pressure. Confronted with existential threats, citizens, entrepreneurs, and academics have rapidly created new systems, technologies, and organizations that bridge the civilian and military domains.

Ukraine’s experience demonstrates how civil-military innovation ecosystems emerge when societal creativity, scientific expertise, and entrepreneurial drive converge toward a shared national challenge. From drone technologies to data analytics and logistics solutions, these collaborations have reshaped how innovation is mobilized in times of crisis.

Civilians, business leaders, and scholars have contributed to Ukraine’s defense by:

• Integrating commercial technologies and management practices into military operations, enhancing coordination and effectiveness.
• Launching defense-tech startups that deliver rapid, practical innovations in surveillance, protection, mobility, and command systems.
• Building cross-sector innovation networks connecting academia, industry, and field operations for agile problem-solving.

For Sweden and Europe, Ukraine’s experience offers essential insights into how to build and sustain innovation capacity that supports both national security and technological competitiveness.

Through partnerships such as that between SITE, SSE, Khartiia, and the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), these efforts bridge academic insight and applied innovation—developing frameworks that help societies transform adversity into progress.

Supporting this mission, SSE recently launched the Center for Security and Resilience (CfSR). The Center explores how innovation, strategy, and leadership can strengthen societal adaptability in an era marked by geopolitical and technological disruption.

Program highlights

• Welcome remarks: Torbjörn Becker (Director of SITE) and Anastasiia Nabokova (Second Secretary, Embassy of Ukraine in Sweden)
• Keynote: Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE)
• Film screening: “The Khartiia Method” – stories of leadership, innovation, and courage in wartime Ukraine
  (Please note: This film includes violent content and may not be suitable for all audiences.)
• Panel discussion: Building Resilience for the Future with experts from Sweden and Ukraine

The full program will be released closer to the event. Full details will be shared exclusively with registered guests.

Registration