News item | 2023-03-20 | 7:30 pm
The headquarters of the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) will be located in the Netherlands. The NIF is one of NATO’s initiatives to drive innovation within the alliance. The Netherlands has campaigned within NATO for settlement in the Netherlands. That was a close collaboration between the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, Techleap.nl and Defense. The arrival of the fund was announced today. The NIF will be officially launched during the NATO summit in Vilnius in July this year.
It is expected that the establishment of this fund in the Netherlands will increase the possibility for innovative Dutch start-ups to find their way to capital. This stimulates the development of innovative complex technologies that offer solutions for social and defense issues.
Minister Adriaansens of Economic Affairs and Climate therefore welcomes the announcement: “The NATO Innovation Fund puts the Netherlands even more firmly on the map among investment funds for innovative companies. This helps start-ups to develop further in the Netherlands. In doing so, we strengthen what we are good at as a country, namely working on solutions for the future.”
The fund fits in well with the Ministry of Defense’s ambitions to innovate in the field of so-called Emerging & Disruptive Technologies (EDTs). The NIF invests in startups and funds that are working on this, among other things.
According to Minister Kajsa Ollongren, the application of EDTs and cooperation with the technology sector are crucial. “More investment in high-tech is urgently needed. For example, we are working with our NATO allies to defend against new threats. That is also why the Netherlands has already decided to substantially increase the budget for research, technology and innovation. The arrival of the headquarters of the NATO Innovation Fund is an important milestone in this. It is great that we, as the Netherlands, can host this knowledge country.”
Maurice van Tilburg, Managing Director of Techleap.nl adds: “The deep tech industry is essential for the social transitions and the current challenges with regard to autonomy for the Netherlands and Europe. From universities, research, incubators and investors, the Netherlands is happy to contribute to setting up this fund to further the development of key technologies in Europe.”
Together, the allies are making at least €1 billion available for the fund, which has a term of 15 years. The Netherlands has pledged to contribute more than €55 million in that period