Canada EU Strategic Partnership: What it Means for Defence Technology Investors

Something significant happened on 23 June 2025 that many people may have missed. Canada and the European Union signed “The New EU–Canada Strategic Partnership of the Future.” On the surface, it may sound like the usual diplomatic language, but in reality, it has the potential to help reshape how defence technology is funded, built and scaled across the Atlantic.

If you are investing in defence technology, or thinking about it, this is worth thinking about.

So, What's Changed?

This isn't just another trade agreement. Canada and the EU have already worked together for years through CETA and the Strategic Partnership Agreement. What is new here is that Canada is being drawn directly into Europe’s defence and security ecosystem.

• Security and Defence Partnership (SDP): Canada now has a seat at the European defence table, with access to programmes such as Security Action for Europe (SAFE) and the ReArm Europe and Readiness 2030 Plan. In practical terms, Canada has joined Europe’s defence innovation club.

• Joint procurement: Canadian companies can now compete for European defence contracts, while European firms gain clearer entry into Canadian programmes. It is a two-way street that did not really exist before.

• Beyond defence: The framework also extends to cybersecurity, space, maritime security, energy transition, climate resilience and digital innovation. These are areas where venture-backed companies are already developing important solutions.

Why It's Worth Paying Attention To

The market just became larger. Canadian companies now have access to Europe’s €90 billion + annual security and defence procurement market. For European ventures, Canada becomes a strategic entry point to North America.

• Predictable demand is on the way. SAFE and Readiness 2030 are not only policy documents. They are funded programmes that will need new technologies in areas such as cyber, artificial intelligence, space and logistics. That means a demand pipeline companies can actually plan around.

• More ways to succeed. Canada is deliberately reducing its reliance on the United States, while Europe gains another trusted ally. For investors, this creates more potential acquirers, more cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and more routes to scale successful companies.

• Rising tide, bigger boats. Defence spending is increasing on both sides of the Atlantic. With Canada now tied more closely into European frameworks, investors have access to a broader set of opportunities for growth and exit.

Some Perspective

At Fulcrum, our focus is on Europe, where the defence technology pipeline is strongest and the policy environment most supportive. But Canada has always been an important part of our thinking. With this new partnership, Canadian companies working in cybersecurity, autonomy, space, dual-use systems, and others now have more direct access to Europe. At the same time, our European companies gain a complementary and value-aligned market in Canada.

Europe’s collaborative regulatory approach and the scale of its procurement market will continue to drive the most significant defence innovation in the coming decade. What this agreement does is connect Canadian innovators into that system, while also giving European companies a structured way to grow across the Atlantic.

For investors in defence technology, this is more than diplomacy. It is a signal: the transatlantic market is opening further, and the opportunities to back companies that can scale in both Europe and Canada are becoming much stronger.

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