diff --git a/.mergify.yml b/.mergify.yml
index 3805c40c8f..d871b4ce69 100644
--- a/.mergify.yml
+++ b/.mergify.yml
@@ -313,6 +313,19 @@ pull_request_rules:
         labels:
           - "backport"
         title: "[{{ destination_branch }}](backport #{{ number }}) {{ title }}"
+  - name: backport patches to 8.16 branch
+    conditions:
+      - merged
+      - label=backport-v8.16.0
+    actions:
+      backport:
+        assignees:
+          - "{{ author }}"
+        branches:
+          - "8.16"
+        labels:
+          - "backport"
+        title: "[{{ destination_branch }}](backport #{{ number }}) {{ title }}"
   - name: backport patches to 8.x branch
     conditions:
       - merged
diff --git a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.dev.json b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.dev.json
index 0d19573739..599fef0941 100644
--- a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.dev.json
+++ b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.dev.json
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
             "metadata": {
                 "description": "The version of elastic-agent to install"
             },
-            "defaultValue": "8.16.0"
+            "defaultValue": "8.17.0"
         },
         "FleetUrl": {
             "type": "string",
diff --git a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.json b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.json
index eb403cf5d9..16a4dfdc34 100644
--- a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.json
+++ b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-organization-account.json
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
             "metadata": {
                 "description": "The version of elastic-agent to install"
             },
-            "defaultValue": "8.16.0"
+            "defaultValue": "8.17.0"
         },
         "FleetUrl": {
             "type": "string",
diff --git a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.dev.json b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.dev.json
index ffd54a39c2..03d25c1577 100644
--- a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.dev.json
+++ b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.dev.json
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
             "metadata": {
                 "description": "The version of elastic-agent to install"
             },
-            "defaultValue": "8.16.0"
+            "defaultValue": "8.17.0"
         },
         "FleetUrl": {
             "type": "string",
diff --git a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.json b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.json
index 6f0d4ad9ec..97d8c94fab 100644
--- a/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.json
+++ b/deploy/azure/ARM-for-single-account.json
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
             "metadata": {
                 "description": "The version of elastic-agent to install"
             },
-            "defaultValue": "8.16.0"
+            "defaultValue": "8.17.0"
         },
         "FleetUrl": {
             "type": "string",
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
index b5d0ef000e..9818721cc5 100644
--- a/version/version.go
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 package version
 
 // name matches github.com/elastic/beats/v7/dev-tools/mage/settings.go parseBeatVersion
-const defaultBeatVersion = "8.16.0"
+const defaultBeatVersion = "8.17.0"
 
 // Version represents version information for a package
 type Version struct {