Five Students Win First and Second Place at a Competition on Europe's Security & Defence

On 26 May 2026, students from across our European university alliance, CIVICA, gathered at the Hertie School in Berlin for the 6th edition of the futurEU competition. Founded in 2019, futurEU is a student-led initiative that brings students' ideas into real policy debate, providing a platform for the next generation of policymakers to address some of Europe's most pressing challenges. The 2026 theme, Europe's Path to Resilience: Shaping the Future of Security & Defence, challenged students to develop innovative policy solutions for Europe's evolving security landscape.

This year, 328 students from the 10 CIVICA universities participated in the competition, forming 123 teams. Following several rounds of evaluation, the field was narrowed to 20 finalists and ultimately 8 teams that advanced to the finals in Berlin. We are proud to announce that two Sciences Po teams won first and second place of the competition.

First Place for Bachelor's students Samuel Petráš and Alexia Puiu

First place was awarded to Alexia Puiu and Samuel Petráš, Bachelor's students at Sciences Po's Menton Campus, for their policy brief “From Spending To Capacity: Bridging Europe's Defence Resilience Gap” examining one of Europe's key defence challenges: the gap between increased defence spending and actual production capacity.

Their proposal argued that Europe's defence bottleneck lies not with major contractors, but within the network of more than 2,500 highly specialised small and medium-sized suppliers that form the foundation of the defence industrial ecosystem. The team proposed measures to strengthen these critical supply chains and improve Europe's long-term defence resilience.

Second Place for Master's students Vittoria Digilio, Andrea Picone, and Paolo Zurlo

Second place went to Vittoria Digilio, Andrea Picone, and Paolo Zurlo, Master's student at the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) and the School of Public Affairs, for their policy brief "The Arsenal Nextdoor: Ukraine's Solutions to European Drone Insecurities".

Their proposal explored how the European Union could integrate Ukraine's extensive expertise in drone technology into its own defence industrial base. Recognising Ukraine's transformation from a security recipient to a leading source of battlefield innovation, the team proposed a three-stage framework: establishing a common EU regulatory framework for military drones, negotiating a formal EU-Ukraine industrial agreement, and creating a joint coordination body to support implementation and large-scale drone production.

“Building on the recognition of Ukraine as a novel key security provider, we contributed to the dialogue by arguing that the European Defence Industrial Base should actively harness Ukrainian know-how in unmanned systems to strengthen Europe's own capabilities.”

Vittoria Digilio is a Dual Master's student in International Affairs with LSE, Andrea Picone is a Master's student in European Affairs and International Relations, and Paolo Zurlo is a Master's student in International Governance and Diplomacy.