{"id":538885,"date":"2026-02-18T14:42:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/bitkom-deftech-start-ups-warn-germany-hardly-ready-to-defend-itself\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:42:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:42:03","slug":"bitkom-deftech-start-ups-warn-germany-hardly-ready-to-defend-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-deftech-start-ups-warn-germany-hardly-ready-to-defend-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitkom: DefTech start-ups warn &#8211; Germany hardly ready to defend itself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 25%;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.pblzr.de\/dacbb27c-1270-4041-b681-e2b95f06f8a1\/2026\/02\/bitkom-logo-400x300_1_TEXT.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Defense capability and resilience are now widely debated in society and things are moving, but the urgency is too often not yet noticeable. We can&#8217;t wait years for changes, we need operational solutions quickly,&#8221; says Bitkom President Dr. Ralf Wintergerst. &#8220;Today, defense capabilities also include data, AI and networked systems. Software-defined defense must be the guiding principle of German defense policy.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the opinion of startups, the biggest stumbling block remains the lengthy procurement process. 90 percent therefore call for accelerated award and procurement procedures such as fast tracks. 87% are also in favor of more funding from the defense budget for the procurement of innovative solutions. 76% would like to see early cooperation between the Bundeswehr and start-ups, for example in the form of challenge formats. And 84% believe it is important for politicians to promote cooperation between DefTech startups and established companies more strongly. &#8220;Startups are constantly developing innovations in very short cycles. We need to take advantage of this and set up testing and procurement in such a way that new solutions can be put into practice without delay,&#8221; says Wintergerst.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\">USA loses significant appeal, Germany gains&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<p>Despite all the criticism, confidence in Germany as a business location is growing among start-ups. Around one in two DefTech start-ups (49%) would choose Germany if they were to set up again, an increase of 10 percentage points compared to the previous year. 24% would set up in another EU country (2025: 16%). The attractiveness of the USA, on the other hand, is declining significantly: only 8 percent would start a business there, compared to 25 percent a year ago, which is three times as many.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>And there is another area where an improvement is perceived: At 65 percent, two thirds now feel that their commitment as a founder in the defense sector is valued in this country. A year ago, it was not even one in two (41 percent).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"\">Further links<\/h4>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bitkom.org\" target=\"_blank\">www.bitkom.org<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<br \/>\ud83d\udc49&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bitkom.org\/Bitkom\/Publikationen\/DefTech-Report-2026\" target=\"_blank\">DefTech-Report 2026&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><i>Photo: pixabay<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>February 16, 2026. Russia&#8217;s war against Ukraine, tensions between the EU and the USA and hybrid attacks on our infrastructures, administrations and companies: Despite the massively changed world situation, Germany is still barely in a position to defend itself. German DefTech start-ups warned of this in the run-up to the Munich Security Conference. 9 out of 10 rate Germany&#8217;s defense capability as low (76%) or very low (11%). In the previous year, 71 percent had described the defense capability as low and 25 percent even as very low. The study is based on a survey of 37 founders of DefTech and dual-use start-ups by Get Started, the start-up initiative of the digital association Bitkom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4764],"tags":[1942,2043,1996,1989,2018],"class_list":["post-538885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software-en","tag-data-security","tag-digitalization","tag-internationalization","tag-startups","tag-studies-reports"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bitkom: DefTech start-ups warn - Germany hardly ready to defend itself - Silicon Saxony<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silicon-saxony.de\/en\/bitkom-deftech-start-ups-warn-germany-hardly-ready-to-defend-itself\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bitkom: DefTech start-ups warn - Germany hardly ready to defend itself - Silicon Saxony\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"February 16, 2026. Russia&#039;s war against Ukraine, tensions between the EU and the USA and hybrid attacks on our infrastructures, administrations and companies: Despite the massively changed world situation, Germany is still barely in a position to defend itself. German DefTech start-ups warned of this in the run-up to the Munich Security Conference. 9 out of 10 rate Germany&#039;s defense capability as low (76%) or very low (11%). In the previous year, 71 percent had described the defense capability as low and 25 percent even as very low. 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