Grassroots Wartime Innovation: Civilian-Led technological adaptation and Informal Defense Innovation in Ukraine

Introduction:
Ukraine’s experience in the full-scale war against Russia has been marked by rapid adaptation, fast learning, and improvised solutions, particularly during the
initial phase of the invasion in 2022. Innovation has helped Ukraine to withstand and keep up with a militarily superior enemy (cf. Dee et al. 2025). At the same time, the war has demonstrated how crises often trigger spontaneous forms of civilian self-organisation to fill the gap left by state actors and institutions that are lacking behind (cf. Channel-Justice 2023, p. 189). In Ukraine, civilians like teachers, entrepreneurs, and retirees, who, in their professional lives, are far distant from elected officials and political and administrative officials proved to be very efficient and extremely helpful at the onset of the war.
These forms of grassroots mobilisation and cross-sector collaboration can be understood through the lens of recent research on Open Social Innovation (OSI).
OSI is defined as collaborative and multi-actor approaches that bring together citizens, civil society organizations, public authorities and private actors to
address complex societal challenges (cf. Pacheco et al. 2025). From this perspective, innovation does not arise solely from formal institutions or technological development, but also from bottom-up initiatives and decentralized forms of problem-solving emerging within communities themselves.
Studies on wartime innovation in Ukraine has highlighted rapid battlefield adaptation, digital transformation, and the emergence of defense innovation ecosystems (cf. Bondar 2025). One promising framework conceptualizes these dynamics through mission-oriented innovation systems (MIS), uniting diverse
sectors such as state institutions, industry, and civil society to innovate jointly and unite around one common mission (cf. Bower 2024). In the case of Ukraine this mission would be existential survival.
This paper introduces in the following the CAMO project and its empirical foundation, situates the analysis within existing innovation frameworks, develops
the concept of grassroots wartime innovation, and examines its manifestation in Ukraine through interview-based evidence before discussing its wider implications.