Whilst many of us in the airsoft industry and community are looking forward to the opening of the IWA Outdoor Classics 2023 on Thursday, a 2-day event for the Security and Defence Industry, Enforce Tac 2023 will be taking place today at the same venue. It is also organised by the same IWA organisers.

Enforce Tac is relatively young compared to IWA Outdoor Classics, as it started in 2012, which is also the same year the Airsoft Meetup at IWA also stared. It is more focused on topics that security experts from the law enforcement and defence communities rather than more general outdoor, hunting, and leisure shooting sports that IWA covers.

Enforce Tac 2023 (NürnbergMesse photo)

We get to see more of tactical gear and hardware at this event. This range from weapons, weapon accessories, communications and optoelectronics as the organisers say as well as tactical equipment and special vehicles. Protective gear for law enforcers and military service people such as body armor, helmets and more will be on display this event.

Also included are education and training systems; and with the growing role of drones, discussions of unmanned systems.

Some members of airsoft media attend the Enforce Tac to observe the event but mainly focused on IWA which follows immediately right after the event with many of exhibitors also staying for IWA as they also have product offerings for the civilian sector.

Enforce Tac is taking place on the 28th of February to the 1st of March 2023 at the Nuremberg Messe in Germany. Press release below:

Enforce Tac bolsters power of innovation of security and defence industry

The exhibition for members of security agencies and the armed forces will also be making a determined investment in the power of innovation of the sector during the forthcoming show on 28 February and 1 March 2023.

A new technology hub for Bavaria’s security and defence industry is taking shape at the initiative of Bavarian State Secretary for Economic Affairs Roland Weigert. The technology hub at Bayern Innovativ, the state’s agency for innovation and knowledge transfer, is intended to form the basis for a broad economic and scientific network for research into future-focused themes, and for start-ups. The Enforce Tac team welcomes this development. The exhibition for members of security agencies and the armed forces will also be making a determined investment in the power of innovation of the sector during the forthcoming show on 28 February and 1 March 2023.

Enforce Tac 2023: Offering start-ups the stage they need

“As a special exhibition, we definitely feel it is our responsibility, at least in part, to help to structure the transfer of knowledge within the sector, and to act as a driver when it comes to the themes that currently move our sector,” says Isabelle Teufert, Exhibition Director Enforce Tac. “The start-ups in the security and defence industry bring highly innovative and viable products and ideas with them to our exhibition – from my perspective that makes them very important participants.” All start-ups participating in this year’s Enforce Tac have the opportunity to present themselves and their products free of charge in the newly built Demonstration Area, and can even make use of the Enforce Tac TV format on YouTube.

BayStartUP GmbH marks the changing times

“You might say that talking openly about military matters and technology was ‘a tricky subject’ for a long time for start-ups and the start-up ecosystem in Bavaria,” says Christoph Rommel, Head of Industrial Cooperation at BayStartUP GmbH. “Start-ups largely avoided addressing this market openly, and dual-use products tended not to be viewed in a favourable light. That has now changed a lot as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. Although start-ups with a focus on military matters are still not common, you do see isolated spin-offs in this area, such as the defence start-up ARX Landsysteme. A change is also happening at the investors’ end. A few institutional investors are already making targeted investments in these fields, but the first ‘business angels’ are now starting to show a willingness to deal seriously with the question of investing here. Quantum Systems, a former start-up from Gilching that manufactures electric drones that are being used in the war in Ukraine, for example, was able to conclude a further major financing round in 2022. The investors involved were also openly identified.” Not only will BayStartUP GmbH moderate the start-up pitches at the Demonstration Area at this year’s Enforce Tac, but Rommel himself will give a presentation on the various opportunities available for collaboration between industry and start-ups.

Side event hosted by Bayern Innovativ GmbH

This year alone, Bavaria will allocate half a million euros for this new field of specialization at Bayern Innovativ. In this connection, State Secretary Weigert emphasised the role played by the more than 70 companies active in this area in Bavaria as a motor for innovation. Bayern Innovativ GmbH itself has issued an invitation to a shared Bayern Innovativ TechHub Lunch on Day 2 of Enforce Tac. The motivation for the TechHub and the resulting products and services will be presented in the company of Roland Weigert, State Secretary at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy. In addition to State Secretary Weigert and Dr Rainer Sessner and Dr Matthias Konrad of the management of Bayern Innovativ GmbH, participants will include start-ups and other Bavarian companies in the sector, true to the theme of “meeting, interacting and networking”.