Collaborations
Collaboration by Design
The most effective innovations rarely emerge from a single organisation. They are created when companies, researchers, public authorities and end users work together to solve shared challenges.
At Cold Will, collaboration is not left to chance. Our approach is built on principles commonly used in service design: understanding real user needs, bringing the right stakeholders together and creating pathways that allow ideas to develop into practical solutions.
By connecting technology developers, defence operators, research institutions and industry partners, we help transform fragmented expertise into coordinated capability.
From Needs to Solutions
Successful innovation starts with understanding operational challenges. Whether the need originates from defence, security, critical infrastructure or resilience requirements, the development process must begin with the people and organisations who will ultimately use the solution.
Cold Will facilitates dialogue between technology providers and end users to ensure that development is guided by real-world requirements rather than assumptions. This reduces development risk and increases the likelihood of successful adoption.
Co-Creation Across Sectors
Defence innovation increasingly relies on expertise originating outside traditional defence industries. Many breakthrough technologies emerge in commercial markets before finding applications in security and defence environments.
Our network enables cross-sector collaboration between dual-use technology companies, research organisations, industrial partners and public actors. These interactions create new opportunities, accelerate learning and strengthen the innovation ecosystem as a whole.
Testing, Validation and Learning
Collaboration does not end when a solution is developed. New capabilities must be tested, validated and refined through continuous interaction between developers, users and experts.
Cold Will supports collaborative pilot projects, demonstration activities and testing initiatives that help technologies move from concept to operational readiness. The result is faster learning, reduced uncertainty and stronger outcomes.
Building Long-Term Trust
Strong ecosystems are built on trusted relationships. Sustainable collaboration requires openness, shared objectives and a willingness to learn from different perspectives.
Cold Will creates an environment where organisations can build lasting partnerships, identify complementary expertise and explore opportunities that might otherwise remain undiscovered.
International Collaboration Network
Cold Will operates as part of a broader European and international defence innovation ecosystem. We actively collaborate with organisations that accelerate capability development, technology transfer and cross-border cooperation across the defence and security sectors.
Strong partnerships require more than networks. They require proximity, trust and continuous interaction with the organisations, innovators and end users shaping the future of defence and security.
Business Tampere supports the Cold Will ecosystem through its presence in Tampere, Brussels and Lviv. This provides direct access to key defence, innovation and funding communities across Finland, the European Union and Ukraine.
Our Brussels presence enables closer engagement with European institutions, defence programmes, funding opportunities and strategic initiatives shaping the future of European defence and security. At the same time, our presence in Lviv provides valuable access to Ukraine’s rapidly evolving defence innovation ecosystem, creating opportunities to connect with technology developers, operational stakeholders and organisations working at the forefront of capability development.
For our members and partners, this means faster access to trusted contacts, improved visibility into emerging opportunities and a more direct route to collaboration across Europe and Ukraine. Local presence in these key locations helps reduce barriers, accelerate partnership building and create practical pathways from innovation to deployment.
In Finland, Cold Will works closely with Digital Defence Ecosystem (DDE), eAlliance and DEFINE, connecting companies, research organisations, public authorities and defence stakeholders to strengthen innovation, resilience and capability development. The Digital Defence Ecosystem brings together Finnish defence and technology companies and research institutes to support the transition from innovation to operational capability under its mission“From Innovations to Capabilities”.
In Ukraine, Cold Will maintains active cooperation with leading defence innovation initiatives, including Brave1 and the IRON Cluster. These partnerships provide access to operational insights, emerging technologies, testing opportunities and collaborative development programmes that help transform real-world challenges into future capabilities.
Together, these partnerships create an ecosystem where companies, researchers, investors, defence operators and public organisations can collaborate more effectively, validate new technologies and accelerate their journey from concept to capability.
Cold Will connects innovators, industry, researchers and defence stakeholders across Finland, Europe and Ukraine, transforming collaboration into capabilities and capabilities into impact.