Speakers

Anastasia Cucino is the International Defence Advisor at ADS Group, where she champions UK SMEs in defence –

advocating for better access to finance, fairer procurement, and international market entry. Formerly a researcher at SIPRI, she brings a global view of the defence industrial base. Anastasia leads UK advocacy across the EU, and key European markets, as well as curates strategic B2B/B2G engagements. She also drives public–private partnerships to enable the adoption of innovation at scale and integrate advanced software into hardware – strengthening capability, resilience, and competitiveness across the UK defence sector.