More than 200 companies developing defence and dual-use technologies are currently operating in the Baltic states, according to the first landscape of this scale of the Baltic defence innovation ecosystem, prepared by Venture Faculty and the Latvia-developed platform Proposal Peak. The landscape was compiled in cooperation with Dealroom, one of the world’s largest company and investment databases.
The landscape reveals a rapidly growing sector, whose development is being driven both by rising defence budgets across Europe and by the large-scale funding available for innovation, research, and technology development.
The landscape identified 200 companies, of which 83 are located in Estonia, 55 in Lithuania, and 47 in Latvia, while a further 15 foreign companies have established a significant presence in the Baltic region. Based on operational presence in Latvia specifically, 59 companies were identified.
“In recent years, the Baltic states have become one of the most interesting defence innovation regions in Europe. Our goal was to bring this ecosystem together in one place for the first time and show both its scale and its growth potential,” say the landscape’s authors.
The landscape shows that 81 companies develop their products primarily for the armed forces, while 77 companies operate in the dual-use segment, developing technologies with both civilian and military applications.
The fastest-growing categories in the Baltics are drones, autonomous systems and robotics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, sensors, as well as photonics and laser technologies.
Latvia Stands Out in Drone and Connectivity Technologies
The landscape’s authors conclude that, within the Baltic region, Latvia stands out particularly in drones, autonomous systems, and connectivity technologies.
Latvia is the founder and leader of the Drone Coalition, an international initiative involving 20 countries. The Ministry of Defence describes this initiative as one of the drivers of Latvia’s international recognition in the defence field.
One of the most prominent companies in the sector is Origin Robotics, which develops both offensive drone and counter-drone technologies.
LMT also plays a significant role in the ecosystem, coordinating the roughly €11 million European Defence Fund project VANTAGE, which aims to develop next-generation vertical take-off unmanned aerial vehicles in a consortium of six countries.
In addition to drone technologies, Latvia is also building strong positions in language technologies and artificial intelligence, where one of the best-known companies is Tilde, as well as in critical infrastructure resilience and communications solutions.
A significant step forward was also taken in 2025 with the opening of the Autonomous Systems Competence Center, whose task is to connect the operational needs of the armed forces with technology developers and procurement processes.
The Baltic Advantage: Speed and Practical Experience
The landscape’s authors believe that the Baltic states’ competitiveness at the European level is based not only on technology but also on the ability to put innovation into practice quickly.
Lithuania is currently one of the world leaders in laser technology. The company Light Conversion controls a significant share of the global ultrafast laser market, while Lithuania’s photonics sector is growing roughly ten times faster than the European average.
Meanwhile, Estonia has strengthened its leading position in cybersecurity, thanks to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, the international Locked Shields exercises, and NATO’s DIANA innovation programmes.
Latvia’s advantage lies in the ability for companies to test solutions in a real-world environment. Latvia is home to a NATO DIANA test centre for 5G, artificial intelligence, and big data solutions, built on the defence technology testbed at Camp Ādaži.
Europe Is Building Up Historically Large Levels of Funding
The landscape’s authors note that the development of defence innovation in the coming years will also be driven by rapidly growing European funding.
The European Union currently has several major funding instruments in place, including the SAFE instrument, with potential loans of up to €150 billion, and the ReArm Europe / Readiness 2030 initiatives, aiming to leverage over €800 billion.
The Proposal Peak platform, meanwhile, tracks and analyses around 45,000 active grant and procurement opportunities every day, with a total potential value of approximately €150 billion. Roughly 15–25% of these opportunities are related to defence and dual-use technologies.
Although the platform’s automated proposal-preparation tools are still under development, the Proposal Peak team has already helped prepare and submit more than 100 project and procurement applications across various European and national-level programmes.
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