Innovation lies at the core of operational advantage. Successful innovation requires a multifaced approach to empower visionaries. Key to this approach is granting innovators access to cutting-edge test facilities for prototyping, and innovation funding programmes to provide financial backing to ultimately transform concepts into reality. This panel approaches how to access these facilities and get funded, as well as how to overcome barriers as an innovator when breaking into the defence market, addressing regulatory challenges, procurement processes and scalability issues that innovators might approach along the way.