The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) was created to supercharge the Alliance’s unique innovation ecosystems. Allied talent and research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are world-leading, but the market to support deep tech innovation is underfunded. With the NIF, we are creating a commercialisation machine in both the private and public sectors, backing innovators to secure the future for the Alliance's 1 billion citizens.
Focus
The NIF is a standalone EUR 1 billion venture capital fund supporting ambitious founders developing emerging and disruptive technologies. For us, high-impact verticals include artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology, energy & propulsion, manufacturing, and space. We are passionate about autonomy, hypersonics, new materials and quantum, and want to shore up cutting-edge hardware and software.
Rallying around NATO’s Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDTs), our focus will evolve in parallel with today’s rapid innovation environment.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Autonomy
- Quantum
- Biotechnologies
- Hypersonic Systems
- Space
- Novel Materials & Manufacturing
- Energy & Propulsion
- Next-Generation Communications
Objectives
With a long-term view, the NIF enables transformative technologies with the potential to shape our security for decades to come.
Our mission is an essential one, and it holds us to seeking out cutting-edge developments that solve NATO's challenges through adoption in defence and security markets; bolstering the capacities of Allied innovation ecosystems; and ultimately driving the scale and success of our portfolio.