From Dialogue to Deployment: Europe and Southern California Build a Durable Aerospace Innovation Bridge
March 06, 2026 – 01:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time
On February 23rd, Rohit Shukla, CEO of Larta Institute, moderated a strategic panel at the residence of Finland’s Consul General, Minna Laajava, in Los Angeles. The gathering convened leaders from Europe and Southern California to address a critical shift: moving from policy dialogue to structured execution.
Opening remarks were delivered by Consul General Minna Laajava; Dilpreet Sidhu, Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles; Gerard de Graaf, Senior Envoy and Head of the EU Office in San Francisco; and Saanamaria Vanamo, Deputy Director General of the Euro-Atlantic Department at Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Panelists included Gerard de Graaf, Head and Digital Envoy for the EU and Francois Brizard, both of the EU Office in San Francisco; Eric Jensen, CEO of ICEYE, a leading Finnish Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, (ISR) company with its US HQ in the LA region; Stephen Cheung, CEO of LAEDC, the leading economic development organization in LA County; and Sid Shah, President of UP Labs, a venture builder of AI-powered companies, including in defense, mobility and manufacturing.
The central question framed the discussion:
How do we move from international dialogue to structured execution — from high-level collaboration to pilot design, capital alignment, and durable innovation pathways?
Southern California operates as a vertically integrated, multi-domain innovation ecosystem. Major primes and system integrators anchor the region. Beneath them lies a dense advanced manufacturing base spanning precision components, propulsion systems, sensors, composites, and avionics. Layered on top is a rapidly expanding AI and software engine powering autonomy, ISR analytics, digital twins, and edge computing. Surrounding this industrial stack are research universities, national laboratories, recycled aerospace talent, venture capital, and an embedded Department of Defense presence.
This density is decisive. It enables technologies to move from lab to testbed to contract faster than in most global markets.
For European companies working at the intersection of space, defense, and dual-use technologies, Southern California offers immediate integration into a full-stack commercialization and deployment environment — proximity to primes, procurement pathways, regulatory navigation, and capital alignment.
The experience of ICEYE, the Finnish-founded SAR satellite company now operating globally, illustrates the shift. Scaling into the U.S. defense ecosystem required more than strong technology. It required embedded presence, procurement fluency, compliance infrastructure, and trust-building across institutional stakeholders.
The lesson extends beyond one company: execution requires infrastructure.
From the European perspective, policy instruments such as REARM, the European Defence Fund (EDF), SAFE, and EDIP are mobilizing large-scale, defense-aligned investment. These mechanisms address fragmentation and industrial dependency while reinforcing sovereign capability. At the same time, they introduce structural parameters — EU component thresholds, design authority requirements, and establishment rules — that shape how transatlantic collaboration must be structured.
The path forward is not symbolic partnership. It is disciplined alignment.
Southern California does not need to replicate Europe’s sovereign industrial strategy, nor should Europe mirror the U.S. model. Their strength lies in complementarity: European policy coherence and strategic industrial frameworks paired with Southern California’s dense commercialization, manufacturing, and deployment engine.
The strategic imperative is execution.
Convenings like this one are a starting point. Durable innovation is built through pilot programs, structured procurement pathways, aligned capital strategies, and repeatable cross-border mechanisms that allow ideas to scale without losing velocity.
The transatlantic opportunity is real. The next phase demands disciplined coordination — and a shared commitment to move from dialogue to deployment.