Podcast: A day full of war innovation; impressive, uncomfortable

Every day, the editors at IO+ are busy publishing stories. But which stories from 2025 really made an impact? Welcome to our mini-podcast series The story behind the story, in which Elcke Vels talks to the editors at IO+. Each editor chooses a story that he or she wrote this year. Today we hear from Bart Brouwers, founder of IO+ and editor. He wrote When war becomes a market: Blue Magic and the Ukraine Living Lab.

Bart, what is your story about?

"I recently attended an event called Blue Magic Netherlands, which took place in Eindhoven at the end of November. During this event, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the industry discussed innovations in the defense sector. Many startups were present, as were established companies.

But something kept running through my mind all day. All those pitches and presentations were about the great opportunities and the ‘playground’ that Ukraine now offers us in the field of defense development."

Let's focus on ‘playground’. What do you think about the use of that particular word?

"The presentations were interesting, and the innovations discussed are relevant and important. However, throughout the entire day—from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.—the context of the misery, the victims, and what war really is was never mentioned. I was surprised by that. In the morning, I thought: when will that be discussed? But it never was. On the one hand, I understood it in the context of the event, but on the other hand, it felt uncomfortable.

Afterwards, I got two kinds of reactions. One group said, “Yes, I felt that too.” The other group said, “Of course, we are concerned about what is happening there, but this is not the time to mention it.”

My position is this: it is, of course, fine to learn from situations. We should definitely continue to do so. It was just the ignoring of the human aspect that felt bizarre to me."

You managed to describe that feeling of discomfort in your story. Will there be a sequel?

“We are working on several follow-up stories about all the pitches at the event, the presentations, and the initiatives that came up there. They are just very relevant and interesting.”

So we can expect more defense stories from you?

“Definitely. But not just defense; the topics will remain diverse. Most of my time is spent on business matters, but I will continue to write. The advantage is that I can produce fairly quickly, which makes it very tempting to keep doing so.”