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News | March 20, 2023 | 19:30
The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) announced today that its headquarters will be located in the Netherlands. NIF is one of NATO’s initiatives to promote innovation within the Alliance. The Netherlands had proposed within NATO to establish an office for the Fund in the Netherlands. This is a close cooperation between the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), Techleap.nl and the Ministry of Defense. NIF will be officially launched during the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July this year.
It is expected that the establishment of the fund in the Netherlands will increase the availability of capital for innovative Dutch start-ups. This will stimulate the development of innovative and complex technologies that provide solutions to social and security problems.
Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Micky Adriaens therefore welcomed the announcement: “The NATO Innovation Fund strengthens the Netherlands’ position among investment funds for innovative companies. This helps start-ups to develop further in the Netherlands. In this way, we are strengthening our country’s strengths in finding solutions for the future.”
The fund is in line with the Ministry of Defence’s ambition to innovate in the field of so-called ’emerging and disruptive technologies’ (EDT). NIF invests in start-ups and funds focusing on EDT, among others. Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren says the application of EDT and collaboration with the technology sector is crucial. “More investments in high technology are urgently needed. For example, we are working with our NATO allies to defend against new threats. This is also why the Netherlands has already decided to significantly increase its budget for research, technology and innovation. The arrival of the NATO Innovation Fund headquarters is an important milestone in achieving this goal. It is great that the Netherlands, as a knowledge-based country, is hosting the fund.”
Maurice van Tilburg, Managing Director of Techleap.nl, added: “The deep tech sector is crucial for the Dutch and European social transformation and the current autonomy challenges. From universities and research institutes to incubators and investors, the Netherlands is happy to contribute to the establishment of this fund to further promote the development of key enabling technologies in Europe.”
NATO allies will collectively provide at least €1 billion for the NIF over 15 years. The Netherlands has pledged more than €55 million over that period.
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