According to the respondents, an important motive for their interest in establishing cooperation with the defence sector is mainly diversification of the customer portfolio.66% of companies want to act as a subcontractor of parts or components and 55% are ready to supply complete technologies or production equipment. One in five companies declared spare capacity for design or development work or production facilities, and 29% can provide skilled labour for joint defence projects. Representatives of 65 companies from the electronics, IT, engineering and plastics sectors made these comments in an anonymous survey at Tech4Defence 25. 3. 2026 in Zlín.
81% of respondents identified cooperation with the defence industry as a strategic opportunity for their further development. 17% of respondents perceived it as a complementary area of their current activities. The survey results also show that for a fifth of companies (21%) this cooperation represents an opportunity for technological development and innovation and for a tenth (9%) it would also be an opportunity to enter new export markets.
“The growing interest of companies in the defence sector is a natural response to the changing security environment and the adaptation of European industry. For the Czech economy, the development of defence technologies represents a significant opportunity to diversify production, strengthen exports and further technological development. Involvement in defence industry supply chains is not easy, but it is a great opportunity for many domestic companies,” says Jan Michal, Director General of CzechInvest.
“The Czech Republic has a long and strong tradition in the aerospace and defence industry, which today is developed by both large system integrators and an extensive network of small and medium-sized companies. These companies offer cutting-edge development, manufacturing, testing and certification, which enables us to cover the entire supply chain from design to final products. In addition, companies originally operating outside the defence and aerospace sector are playing an increasing role, bringing new technologies, capabilities and innovative solutions to the sector. Our role is to help them navigate this specific environment and at the same time connect them with leaders in these sectors around the world,” says Petr Tomášek, Executive Manager of the Moravian Aviation Cluster.
According to 91% of respondents, the defence sector will become one of the key drivers of European industry in the coming years and this perception is starting to be reflected in companies’ investment plans. Half of the companies surveyed (50%) are already making investments to support their readiness to engage in defence projects and a further 40% plan to invest in the coming years. Only one tenth of companies do not yet envisage investments.
The readiness of companies to start cooperation in a relatively short timeframe is also important. As many as 81% of companies said that they are able to establish business relations almost immediately, 15% estimate a possible start of cooperation within one year and the remaining 5% within two to three years.
One of the organizers, the regional development agency ZRIA, considers the organization of Tech4Defence in Zlín and connecting local companies with global programs to be crucial.“The entire aerospace and defence sector is crucial for the Zlín Region. We are among the top 3 regions in the Czech Republic in terms of the number of companies and employees in this sector and in defence our companies produce the second highest EBITDA in the national comparison. Today offers unique opportunities to integrate other companies into defence supply chains. This makes sense, because there are many skilled companies in the Zlín region in the fields of engineering, polymers, materials or information technology. And for them, the defence sector can also be interesting,” comments Petr Kubíček, Director of the Strategic Department of ZRIA.
The region also has another added value to offer, namely the industrial zone in Holešov, which is one of the largest ready-made industrial zones in the country. ZRIA’s ambition is for this zone to have a strategic direction, which could be aerospace and defence.
Tech4Defence is a networking platform aimed at connecting manufacturing companies with the defence industry and supporting their involvement in defence technology supply chains. The meeting programme includes thematic roundtables with representatives of defence companies and space for individual networking. During the first meeting this year, defence sector was represented by PBS Velká Bíteš, Ray Service, Tatra Defence Vehicle and the Military Technical Institute, which presented their current needs in terms of supply capabilities and technological solutions.
“Recently, we have seen a significantly growing interest of companies in cooperation with the defence sector. From our procurement perspective, we see this as positive, because it opens up new opportunities for cooperation and we often discover competencies in partners that we did not even know about before. Our mutual negotiations have brought us a lot of new information, we have managed to map a number of capabilities of companies in the region and we have also agreed on concrete follow-up steps. The defence market today offers great opportunities for companies, but it depends primarily on their strategy, courage and ability to actively use these opportunities,” says Martin Olejník, Head of Strategic Purchasing at Ray Service.
“Such meetings significantly save time and capacity in the search for suppliers and allow us to establish relationships on a personal level. The Tech4Defence initiative significantly facilitates the effective establishment of partnerships that would otherwise be slower and less effective,” adds Lukáš Kobolka, Executive Director of PBS Velká Bíteš.
“The aim is to help companies become part of valuable projects, develop their technological competencies and build long-term partnerships that bring success to both parties,” says Leoš Mauer, Director of the Defence Hub at CzechInvest. The need for systematic support is also confirmed by the findings on the role of the public sector. According to 83% of survey respondents, the state should actively link civilian industrial companies with defence companies. Another 14% would also welcome financial support in the form of subsidies or soft loans aimed at the development of defence technologies. Only 3% of respondents prefer minimal state involvement.
“The long-term growing interest of traditional companies and armourers confirms the trend that CzechInvest correctly captured at the very beginning by organising such events,” adds Vít Čermák, Director of the Regional Office for the South Moravian Region.
The meeting in Zlín was held under the patronage of the Defence and Security Industry Association of the Czech Republic and with the financial support of ZRIA partners and the Moravian Aviation Cluster.
Source: CzechInvest
Photo credit Bezeslov Production
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