NATO expects more countries to join the Alliance’s Innovation Fund

Brussels, October 27 (EFE). – NATO said on Wednesday that it expects more countries to join the 17 countries that last week gave the green light to the alliance’s first innovation fund, through which they intend to invest 1,000 million euros in the latest technologies. Defense technology projects and not lose competitiveness.

Currently, Spain has not joined the 17 European allies (Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom) that have promoted the fund, which is expected to be in effect for the Madrid Alliance summit, in June. 2022.

“Before its launch at the Madrid Summit, I hope that more countries will want to join and contribute to the fund,” NATO Assistant Secretary-General for Emerging Security Challenges, David Van Weyl, said during a media meeting.

He noted that there are “several reasons” that some allies have not yet joined the fund, but added that some countries that have not yet “said they are very interested and want to join once they get all the details…”.

In any case, he stressed that the 17 countries that signed the creation of the fund last Friday are the “pioneers” and “will determine the terms of the fund” and “we hope that eventually more will join.”

Van Weil admitted that “in the world of venture capital, ‘a billion euros’ is not a lot of money.”

However, he stated that the goal is not for the Innovation Fund to be the “sole investor” in companies developing new technologies that can be used in defense, but to support NATO to “create confidence” in other actors and decide to support them. Comp.

“Investing in the NATO Innovation Fund and doing so based on its extensive scientific and military knowledge of corporate potential will provide confidence to private capital,” he said.

He stressed that the fund does not claim to be “the sole owner of these companies, but it is there to provide the first payment.”

Regarding the contribution of each country, details are not yet finalized, but each partner is expected to contribute a minimum amount, regardless of its size and population.

“Then we have to see the methods in which the investment will be made, taking into account what each country has set,” he added.

Through this initiative, the Alliance intends to stay current in terms of technology by investing in dual-use projects (civilian and military) and by facilitating close and trustworthy cooperation with technology developers.

Together with the Defense Innovation Accelerator of the North Atlantic (DIANA), this innovation fund seeks to support the development of the innovation community across the Atlantic.

The idea to launch this fund and the DIANA project came at the recent Allied Leaders Summit in Brussels last June.

At last week’s meeting of NATO defense ministers, the alliance’s first strategy on artificial intelligence was also agreed, which will set standards for the responsible use of that technology in line with international law and allow them to address threats that arise in the hands of adversaries.

The strategy revolves around the principles of legality, responsibility, accountability, ability to explain, trace, trust, governance, and mitigate biases. EFE

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