Fibrenamics held IMPULSE 2026 – “Interpreting trends. Activating opportunities.” on 21 May at Forum Braga, a strategic forum dedicated to the Defence and Protection sector, focused on emerging opportunities, dual-use technologies, collaboration between entities and the integration of Portuguese companies into new value chains.

In a context marked by profound geopolitical, technological and industrial transformations, the event brought together companies, institutional entities, R&D centres, technology partners and end users to reflect on the role of innovation in building real capabilities for the sector.

In the opening session, Raúl Fangueiro, Pro-Rector for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Knowledge Transfer at the University of Minho and President of Fibrenamics, highlighted the importance of convergence between science, industry, entrepreneurship and technological sovereignty, stressing that the dual-use concept should be understood as “a new innovation paradigm”. According to Raúl Fangueiro, the main challenge lies in “transforming knowledge into impact, innovation into industrial capability and collaboration into strategic resilience”.

Álvaro Santos, President of CCDR-N, also reinforced the potential of Northern Portugal in this field, highlighting the region’s expertise in areas such as advanced materials, technical textiles, composites, product engineering, electronics and intelligent systems. In his intervention, he underlined that funding alone is not enough, and that it is essential to create networks, trust and transformative projects.

n the strategic keynote “Trends and Opportunities in the Defence and Protection Sector”, Hermano Rodrigues, Principal at EY-Parthenon, analysed the main dynamics reshaping the sector, highlighting technological acceleration, the growing importance of dual-use solutions and the need for greater integration of Portuguese companies into international value chains.

He pointed to several examples of emerging technologies that may gain operational relevance and underlined that, although Defence and Protection are becoming increasingly attractive areas, driven by rising public investment and long-term contracts, significant entry barriers remain in a market dominated by major players, OEMs and Prime Contractors. In this context, Hermano Rodrigues also advocated the importance of mapping the national Defence and dual-use ecosystem more rigorously, identifying companies, existing capabilities, the weight of this sector within business activity and the evolution of investment, as an essential condition for turning opportunities into effective participation in global value chains.

The strategic reflection on the sector brought into the debate the attractiveness of the Defence and Protection industries, but also their entry barriers, particularly in terms of certification, qualification, licensing, scale and integration into international value chains. The importance of networks and consortia was also highlighted by Jorge Manuel Duque, who urged companies to look beyond Defence as an isolated market, also considering opportunities in the Aeronautics, Space and Security sectors.

The round table “Interpreting Trends and Enhancing Opportunities in the Defence and Protection Sector”, moderated by Hermano Rodrigues, brought together Wilson Antunes, Lieutenant Colonel of the Portuguese Army; Márcio Castro, Coordinating Director of Credit and Investment Analysis at Banco Português de Fomento; Filipe Duarte, CEO of Optimal Defence; Fernando Pedrosa, Operations Manager at Vangest; and Filipe Guimarães, Sales Manager at Endutex. The discussion brought together perspectives from industry, financing, military entities and sector specialists, addressing the positioning challenges faced by Portuguese companies, the importance of collaborative innovation, the role of financing in developing new capabilities and the need to strengthen the connection between companies and end users.

Throughout the discussion, it became clear that there are concrete opportunities for Portuguese companies, but also a demanding path ahead. Entry into international consortia, participation in specialised networks, process qualification, access to financing mechanisms and the ability to present integrated solutions were identified as critical factors for competing in a highly regulated and competitive sector.

IMPULSE 2026 also marked a new stage in the activation of the Fibrenamics Innovation Hub – Defense & Protection, an R&D and collaboration platform already under development, designed to support the creation of solutions for the sector. At this stage, the Hub reinforces its mission to promote dual-use technologies, foster collaboration, stimulate funding and market opportunities and facilitate integration into value chains currently undergoing reconfiguration.

Learn more about the Fibrenamics Innovation Hub – Defense & Protection in the eRadar article.

IMPULSE 2026 closed with a very clear direction for the future: it is time to convert existing capabilities into concrete results. Portugal has the knowledge, technical expertise and industrial base; the next step is to accelerate their transformation into solutions that are developed, protected, produced and taken to market, creating new growth opportunities for companies and strengthening the country’s competitive positioning.