BY JP LINDSLEY
đ¨ At the UN, Zelensky said Ukraine is opening its defense-tech to the free world.
Last week I stepped inside the secret conference where that future is being builtâBRAVE1, Ukraineâs âDefense Tech Valley.â
What I saw: Ukrainian garage tech that can beat empires.
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Scores of mil-tech startups, plus global experts & investors, gathered for a high-security, wartime innovation conference. The organizer,
@BRAVE1ua, part of Ukraineâs sleek Ministry of Digital Transformation (@mintsyfra) exists to boost garage-tech into victory.
Ukraineâs got âugly stuff that works.â Theyâre focused on lethality to stop the Russian War Machine, not on frills for fancy folk. Some confused American investors asked: âWhy canât your stuff look nicer?â âBecause we just need stuff that works to kill the invaders.â
The speed of Ukrainian iterationâmotivated by wanting to stay freeâis insanely quick. I was here in Ukraine February 24, 2022, when the best mil-tech, besides the American javelins, was the molotov cocktail. Now, the Garage of the Resistance is producing AI drones.
Itâs not all âsmall techâ: Take the amazing Toloka sea-drone, which can swim for 90 days across the world to hit its target. The garage-vibe is still there: Toloka means a human-gathering to achieve a mission. Thatâs what I saw at @brave1âs conference.
Brave1âs event was a manifestation of daily reality throughout Ukraine: Soldiers & engineers are in regular contact with each otherâwithout meddling govât middle men. Front-line defenders call pals in labs, saying, âHey this isnât workingâ or âI could use this tool.â
Walking around Brave1 I witnessed a spirit of cooperation we could use in the USA: Small mil-tech start-ups sharing know-how and tools with each other and with soldiers. Firms find ways to collaborate rather than do it all themselves. Itâs efficiency to protect liberty.
When matched with savvy investors from the West, these mil-tech-focused Ukrainians create and scale products the West sorely needsâas we see with the latest Russian incursions into Nato airspace. Wide-awake Denmark was well-represented. But others are missing out.
Alas, the key American innovators are out of the loop! Two weeks prior, Anduril founder @PalmerLuckey tweeted a noble but lonely picture, loading up stuff to send to Ukraine. If only he had known just how inspirational @BRAVE1ua is for those who love liberty.
Ukraine proves: Garage tech can beat an empire.
In the coming weeks, Iâll be sharing stories of the brilliant startups I met at this conference. Follow along!
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