Comment by Fnoord

Is up a lot, yes.

It all goes slowww. But it is moving forward. You would need a tough screening regardless. Defense is very picky about their contractors. But I can give a hint where the money comes from: 3,5% of BBP has to be for defense, and 1,5% for infra for defense. Many countries were at about 2% before (getting a bit higher due to geopolitical changes early 2022).

Also, think of funding for European tech companies. Governments are getting rid of Microsoft 365 in favor of Nextcloud. Especially Opencloud (Nextcloud, also European, formerly known as nextcloud-go) and Opendesk. It goes slow, partly because of regulations and each country goes for their own local contractor (an expert who speaks the native language).

The victim is going to be our health care system, and general social security system. Because we were able to afford this thanks to NATO, and NATO is now a paper tiger.

We're also not known for our VC culture, but here goes: https://www.cursor.tue.nl/nieuws/2025/november/week-4/surf-z... SURF has financed many FOSS projects in the past.

Desire to invest in USA has gone down because of Trump, and that money will partly flow to China, partly internal. On the short term, USA has incredible soft power over EU. But on the long term, not so much anymore.