Discover Sopra Steria’s contribution to the EU Defence Transformation Roadmap, with key recommendations for a new model of European defence innovation and modernisation, built on speed, sovereignty, and strategic enablers
Accelerating Europe’s Defence Transformation: Sopra Steria’s Contribution to the EU Roadmap
Building a more sovereign, faster, and smarter European defence
Europe’s security increasingly depends on its ability to innovate — not in decades, but in months. As digital technologies redefine the nature of defence power, speed, sovereignty, and coherence have become strategic imperatives.
In its contribution to the EU Defence Transformation Roadmap, Sopra Steria outlines how Europe can build a new model of digital defence innovation fit for the challenges of the 21st century.
Drawing on its deep experience in digital systems, cybersecurity, and defence transformation programmes across Europe, Sopra Steria calls for a renewed approach built on four strategic levers.
Four strategic levers for Europe’s digital defence
1. Fast-Track governance for defence innovation
To accelerate funding and deployment cycles within the European Defence Fund (EDF) — ensuring that new technologies reach operational use at the speed of relevance.
2. A European Defence Data Space
To federate data securely across Member States while preserving sovereignty and trust, enabling seamless collaboration and interoperability.
3. Modern command and control platforms
To empower multi-domain operations through open, modular, and data-centric architectures that bridge human and machine capabilities.
4. A use-case-driven approach to critical technologies
To focus European investments on sovereign AI, secure cloud and quantum technologies with real operational impact.
Addressing systemic challenges, not just technology
This position paper is both a diagnosis and a roadmap. It examines the systemic barriers slowing down digital innovation in Europe’s defence sector — including fragmented governance, long funding cycles, and a gap between innovation and operational needs — and offers actionable solutions to overcome them.
“The challenge is not merely technological. It is systemic,” explains Benoît Chatelain, Head of Defence & Security at Sopra Steria.
“Slow development cycles, fragmented governance, and a disconnect between innovators and operational users threaten to undermine Europe’s capacity for technological sovereignty. This is a critical moment to align innovation, sovereignty, and operational readiness.”
A trusted European partner for digital defence
With this contribution, Sopra Steria reaffirms its role as a trusted European technology partner for defence and security.
The Group works alongside public institutions, armed forces, and industrial leaders to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy, leveraging its expertise in AI, cybersecurity, simulation, and systems engineering.
Download the position paper
“Sopra Steria’s Contribution to the EU Defence Transformation Roadmap”
Discover the full analysis and recommendations to build a faster, more integrated, and more sovereign European defence ecosystem.