Europe is rebuilding the defence and industrial capabilities required for an era shaped by autonomy, AI and intensifying geopolitical competition. Sovereignty now depends on scaling industrial capacity, accelerating innovation cycles and aligning policy with deployment at speed.

This session explores how Europe strengthens its industrial base, accelerates adoption of advanced systems and reduces critical dependencies. From software-defined defence to modernised manufacturing and cross-border procurement, it examines how a sovereign defence era is being built in practice.

• Where is Europe already moving at speed, and where must it go further?

• How are AI, autonomy and software-led systems reshaping capability development?

• What must governments, industry and investors now execute to unlock a modern, sovereign industrial base?