Europe must quickly and sustainably become more independent in terms of its defense, both internally and externally. However, this includes not only the immediate build-up of strategic reserves such as weapons and ammunition, but also the creation of resilient innovation capacities. Germany in particular faces a major challenge here: if the topic of digitalization had been more of a focus in recent decades, a culture of innovation - which is now extremely helpful - would probably have long since developed, which could provide tangible help with the issues surrounding weapons systems of the generation after next. Although there are some highly innovative experiments and results, there is a lack of a corresponding mindset, a cultural ecosystem and correspondingly strong clusters, particularl ...