Executive Summary
The partnership between TUM Venture Labs (Defence/Aerospace) and Resaro has been established to create a trusted pipeline of defence-ready AI innovations. This joint programme addresses the critical need for speed, assurance, and resilience in European defence technology.
The global defence sector is experiencing rapid growth in dual-use and defence tech startups, driven by shortened innovation cycles and increased investment. This growth adds pressure on traditional defence procurement processes and existing defence platforms, ultimately resulting in the "valley of death" between lab development and operational deployment.
By integrating Resaro’s rigorous assurance and stress-testing capabilities early in the development lifecycle of startups emerging from TUM’s ecosystem, the partnership ensures that defence ministries and agencies receive robust, certifiable, and adversary-resilient AI systems. This strategic collaboration directly supports Europe’s objectives for technological sovereignty, accelerates innovation uptake, and bolsters operational resilience.
Accelerating Trust and Resilience – Strategic Objectives
The joint programme establishes a European benchmark for AI quality in mission-critical contexts, enhancing the credibility of European defence startups while ensuring alignment with NATO and EU AI assurance guidelines. This positions Germany and the EU as leaders in safe, governed defence AI innovation.
Resaro stress-tests the innovative systems developed by TUM startups early in the development lifecycle, hardening them into defence-ready prototypes. Additionally, by focusing expertise on deepfake evaluation and content authenticity assurance, the programme strengthens defence against misinformation, disinformation, hybrid threats, and cognitive warfare.
Program Deliverables – Impact on Defence Capabilities
The Assurance-Ready Incubator: TUM defence startups receive independent AI validation through Resaro, creating a "trust label" for European defence technology. This accelerates the path from academic research to defence-grade systems, delivering validated prototypes with reduced risk. Early testing integration makes startups more procurement-ready by minimising technical adoption risks.
Standards Leadership and Strategic Alignment: The joint programme will provide direct input into NATO and EU AI testing and assurance frameworks, potentially setting benchmarks for AI assurance regarding robustness, safety, and explainability in defence contexts. By combining TUM’s academic ecosystem with Resaro's cutting-edge assurance technology, the initiative increases interoperability with external non-EU assurance frameworks and test standards, strengthening Europe’s technological leadership and sovereignty.
Resilient Systems Development: Defence systems resulting from this collaboration will be hardened against adversarial AI threats, including spoofing, jamming, and deepfakes. The programme establishes a recognised European centre where deepfake evaluation and synthetic data benchmarking capabilities are used to defend against hybrid threats and disinformation campaigns, creating a European hub for information operations resilience.
Summary:
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Accelerating the trustworthy identification and integration of dual-use AI startups with defence relevance
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Providing defence stakeholders with access to measurable and up-to-date quality indicators for mission-critical AI
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Fostering faster, risk-mitigated adoption of new technologies aligned to Europe’s sovereignty and regulatory standards
About
TUM Venture Labs are entrepreneurial innovation hubs established by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and UnternehmerTUM, focused on deep tech startups. They provide a comprehensive ecosystem for students, researchers, and corporations to facilitate tech-based business creation, connecting early-stage ventures with state-of-the-art infrastructure, programmes, and extensive networks of mentors, industry partners, and investors.
Across 12 domain-specific labs, including software/AI, healthcare, food/agro/biotech, and robotics, TUM Venture Labs accelerate the launch and scaling of ventures based on scientific research and interdisciplinary innovation, with the aim of strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty.
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Resaro is an independent, third-party AI assurance provider co-headquartered in Singapore and Germany, specialising in the evaluation, testing, and benchmarking of mission-critical and dual-use AI systems for safety, security, and performance.
Resaro’s solutions include a modular AI test platform and synthetic content generation service, enabling organisations to validate deepfake detectors, stress-test models, and benchmark algorithmic reliability using robust, customisable datasets and real-world test conditions. Trusted by defence and security agencies, Resaro delivers scientific, outcomes-focused assurance via open-source and proprietary tools, on cloud or on-premise deployments, with a mission to raise the standards for trustworthy AI in high-stakes domains.