Major General (Retired) Paul Hurmuz, Senior associate expert New Strategy Center, was invited to participate in the European Defence Week 2026, the flagship event of the European Defence Alliance, led by Bpifrance (Banque Publique d’Investissement) and operated by EuroQuity with the support of European agencies and the National Promotional Banks and Institutions (NPBIs).
The European Defence Alliance brought together, between 2 and 5 November in Paris, Armed Forces representatives, innovation agencies, industry leaders and investors, with the objective to federate National and Regional Defence and dual‑use innovation agencies into a fully operational European network filling a gap that currently exists in Europe.
MG Hurmuz, was a speaker of the “From Orbit to Battlefield: Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR), Earth Observation and Geospatial Intelligence” Panel and the Roundtable session “How to identify the strategic innovation of tomorrow?”
The other Panel speakers were Mr. Julien Bzowski, Strategy Director, Safran.AI, Mr. Charles Beigbeder, President, Audacia, Mr. Vincent Farret d’Astiès, CEO, Zephalto and Mr. Panayiotis Philimis, CEO, Cyric. The moderator was Mr.Pierre Alexis Fillon, European Project Manager, EuroQuity.
The other speakers for the Roundtable were Ms. Ingrid Sara Grimstad Amundsgård, Defence & Space Advisor, Innovation Norway, Mr. Valerian Giesz, Co-Founder, Quandela, Mr. Bernard Ochs, Board member, ACER Finance and Mr.Thierry Vandewalle, Managing Partner, WIND Capital. The moderator was Mr. Romain Lavielle, Co-Founder, Impactus.

The discussions have stressed the specific issues facing Europe’s Defence sector, especially in the Space, ISR and the Emerging and Disruptive Technologies domains.
In his interventions, MG Hurmuz has underlined the need for necessary reinforcement from NATO and EU in response to the recent military escalations in the Black Sea, including the attacks on commercial ships off the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania. In this respect there is an urgent need for deploying the necessary ISR and Counter-Drones capabilities in the region.
The fact that Romania is set to become the largest natural gas producer in the European Union in 2027, with the full startup of its Neptun Deep project in the Black Sea, requires serious efforts at the national, regional, NATO and EU levels, to restore a credible Deterrence and Defence Posture in this part of the Alliance.