The map shows the institutions, programmes and rules a solution passes through from a military need to fielding, and the points where a company can join that path.

What is included

An institution, programme or rule that a legal act, a programme document or the institution itself gives a role in the defence innovation cycle. Chambers and clusters are included when they bring defence companies together. Companies are not shown for now. Training ranges are included when they are the largest Land Forces or Air Force ranges or when the MoND tests innovations there.

Stages and groups

The first five stages come from the MoND Innovation Strategy. We added the sixth, expansion (foreign markets and exports), because the Strategy ends the cycle at fielding in the Armed Forces, while a company keeps growing. An entry is placed at a stage when a source gives it a task there. Programmes that fund production and scale-up (such as the Security and Defence Fund or the BGK dual-use product credit) are placed at stage 5 because they fund the move from prototype to deliveries. This is a simplification. Data categories are grouped into six groups: the state (direction and oversight, needs and users, procurement, NATO and the EU, East Shield, training ranges), research and testing (military universities, research institutes and test centres), programmes and acceleration (support programmes, accelerators and innovation hubs), funding institutions, calls and applications, and industry (chambers, clusters, large industry and trade fairs).

Places

A location is shown only when a source gives it. The map does not locate ranges or tests more precisely than the Ministry and the institutions do in public.

Not yet included

NATO DIANA, EUDIS and the European Defence Fund are listed among the programmes alongside the map; other NATO and EU programmes (including the NATO Innovation Fund, EDA and NSPA) will form a separate layer. The Industrial Development Agency (ARP) and the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) will be added once their public route for companies is established.

Sources and updates

Sources are legal acts, documents and websites of the institutions, trade media and the catalogue of NATO DIANA test centres in Poland (FORT Kraków, 2025). Dates next to acts and announcements are dates of issue or publication. A date next to an institution’s website is the day we read it. The map is reviewed at least once a quarter. Calls and deadlines change faster, so check them at the source before applying.

Changes

1.9 (8–9 November 2026): cycle stage selector above the map, the step-by-step path on a small map, zoom into Warsaw, a contact folder, an “In numbers” box, six groups on the map and HEDI among programmes. Corrected descriptions of the tasks of the Innovation Department, the ABW, the SKW and the trade control authority, the rules of Decisions No. 123/MON, 171/MON and 173/MON, and of who buys military equipment and under which procedure. Paths were expanded after a review of 293 sources. The project change log lists all changes.