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Introduction

  1. An increasingly dangerous and contested security environment, as outlined in the NATO 2022 Strategic Concept, demands the Alliance pursues a new and deeper relationship with industry1. To counter the long-term threat Russia poses to Euro-Atlantic security and stability, and the persistent threat of terrorism, Allies are delivering on The Hague defence commitment. With these historic increases in defence spending, a strong, innovative, and responsive defence industry is essential to our collective security. Our defence industry provides us with the equipment we need to fight, strengthens our technological edge, and plays a key role in increasing the readiness and interoperability of our forces. Transatlantic defence industrial cooperation is a critical part of NATO’s deterrence and defence.
  2. Allies have made significant progress on their commitments to strengthen defence industry and industry-NATO cooperation2. As a convenor, standard setter, requirements setter and aggregator, and delivery enabler, NATO is working to expand the growth of defence industrial capacity across the Alliance.
  3. We will now further strengthen Allied and NATO relationships with industry and put into place an even more robust collaborative approach to support the delivery of the significant investments in capabilities that Allies are making.

Aim and context

  1. As outlined in the updated Defence Production Action Plan, we need sustained effort to build and increase the defence production capacity required across the Alliance to deliver the capabilities needed to meet Allies’ NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP) capability targets in full and on-time, meet additional national needs, and enable the modernisation and transformation of Allied forces. Strengthened defence industry across Europe and North America and enhanced defence industrial cooperation among Allies, remains essential for delivering the required capabilities.
  2.  This strategy3, endorsed by Allied Leaders at the NATO Summit in Ankara, aims to deepen the relationship between industry and NATO, and is built on a set of key principles, cooperation mechanisms, bodies and events, as outlined in Appendices 1 and 2. It facilitates greater insight for industry into Allied and Alliance capability needs, opens up new pathways for collaboration, and recognises the importance of industry perspectives throughout the capability lifecycle. It will simplify how industry interacts with the NATO Enterprise4 and create more opportunities for companies, including non-traditional suppliers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 
  3. Industrial policy remains a national prerogative. This strategy should be seen as complementary to actions that Allies have put in place to support the development and growth of defence industry. Sharing national defence industrial strategies and plans will improve our coordination and coherence of effort, enabling Allies to discuss collective progress and challenges, including with industry, to ensure Allies can meet the Alliance’s objectives.
  4. The Alliance will prioritise deepening cooperation with industry to fully realise the strategic objectives outlined below over the next three years, guided by a dedicated Implementation Plan. At the end of this period, in consultation with industry, the Alliance will review progress made and adjust the strategy as needed.

Scope

  1. The Strategy for Industry-NATO Cooperation recognises the scope, diversity and structural complexity of the defence industrial landscape. The strategy encompasses both traditional and non-traditional defence industry5. The strategy is underpinned by our commitment to foster an innovative, competitive, and sustainable defence industry, where reciprocal cooperation and openness are the norm6.
    • Early engagement with industry and their suppliers, robust contracting frameworks and agile procurement are fundamental enablers of Allied defence, playing a key role in determining how fast and how effectively the Alliance can scale production. In the competitive phase, individual Allies and the NATO Enterprise have clear procurement pathways and established procurement rules and procedures. NATO is engaged in both procurement and non-procurement relations with industry. The measures contained in this strategy address cooperation with industry across the entire capability lifecycle with a focus on engagement in the pre-competitive phases.
    • With the intention of seeking to avoid unnecessary duplication, the strategy will be informed by and take into account, through staff-to-staff contacts, relevant policies, developments and ongoing efforts in other international organisations including, in particular, the European Union, as appropriate. It supports enhancing defence industrial cooperation with NATO partners, in particular through the work of the Defence Industrial Production Board (DIPB), and will draw upon best practices and lessons identified through their respective approaches to industry engagement.
    • The strategy sets out three complementary strategic objectives which constitute the priority areas for industry-NATO cooperation: enhanced communication and collaboration with industry, advancing innovation and interoperability, and strengthening, scaling and sustaining defence production. These objectives outline specific measures to support collaboration and help drive alignment between NATO, Allies and industry. Specific actions, roles and responsibilities and timelines will be further detailed in an implementation plan. Appendix 2 provides an overview of the key NATO bodies engaged with industry and the main collaboration mechanisms currently in use.

Strategic objective one:
Enhanced communication and collaboration with industry

  1. Reciprocal communication channels will underpin industry-NATO cooperation, enabling the exchange of expertise and supporting informed decision-making. Allies and NATO will foster early-stage engagement with industry as part of Alliance-wide processes and practices. This will include better considering industrial perspectives as part of capability development processes7.
    • NATO will actively identify and seek to create new opportunities for, early consultation with industry, including through the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG), leveraging industry advice and expertise on cross-cutting issues to inform NATO’s work, as appropriate. These consultations will help Allies and NATO integrate industry perspectives on capability development and industrial capacity development. To increase transparency and enable participation by the widest range of industry, consultations will be conducted through mechanisms that maximise outreach. The involvement of industry in these consultations will not impede or unfairly enhance their ability to compete for contracts as appropriate. The DIPB and NIAG will enhance consultation efforts through a programme of collaboration.
    • NATO will establish a new engagement platform – the NATO Front Door for Industry (NFDI). The Front Door will be the principal vehicle to inform industry of ways to connect with the NATO Enterprise. It will also expand to offer opportunities to connect with interested individual Allies. A NATO engagement calendar will provide industry with an overview of key opportunities and timelines for industry contributions, supported by a customer relationship management tool. The NFDI will improve access to procurement opportunities through aggregating information from NATO Enterprise procurement portals. It will better amplify testing, experimentation, verification and validation (TEVV) opportunities and connect innovation initiatives across the NATO Enterprise. The NFDI will evolve through an iterative process, informed by Allied and industry feedback and aligned with emerging needs.
    • NATO will launch dedicated industry consultations, including thematic workshops in specific capability areas, and provide specific opportunities tailored to SMEs and start-ups. Industry will be regularly invited to actively share expert perspectives with NATO on issues such as emerging technologies, production capacity and supply chain related challenges to support Alliance decision-making on capability development and delivery. Allies will be kept informed of consultations with industry in order to ensure the necessary alignment between national priorities and Alliance initiatives.
    • NATO will share an aggregated demand signal derived from the NDPP to provide industry with insights into the Alliance’s capability needs and support longer-term industrial investments and planning. Acknowledging the diverse range of industry stakeholders, this demand signal will be released in public and classified formats and will be updated when required. Industry, including through the NIAG, will be invited to provide feedback on industrial challenges that could affect Allies’ ability to deliver on their NDPP capability targets. Allies and NATO will seek to inform industry of demand aggregation opportunities, in particular multi-year, multinational procurement requirements and multinational cooperation initiatives.

Strategic objective two:
Advancing innovation and interoperability

  1. Allies and NATO will strengthen innovation pathways that support faster adoption of emerging technologies across the full capability lifecycle, broaden industrial participation across all stages of capability development, and reinforce interoperability, including through modularity and open architectures.

Institutionalising innovation pathways

  1. Bridging the gap from testing, evaluation and operational experimentation to acquisition of solutions requires clear and credible transition pathways.
    • Allies and NATO will work with industry to accelerate the identification, contracting and acquisition of new technological solutions, including those emerging from NATO and Allied accelerator programmes.
    • Allies will implement agile and flexible procurement procedures able to keep pace with the speed of technological progress.
    • NATO will support cooperation between Allies and industry to foster the pull-through of promising solutions from experimentation into capability development, by identifying transition pathways and implementing frameworks that enable the mainstreaming of rapid adoption, including through the NATO Innovative Solutions Catalogue.
    • Allies and NATO will encourage industry to make maximum use of NATO initiatives - including NATO Innovation Ranges, DIANA8, and the NATO Innovation Fund - to complement their own innovation efforts.
    • NATO will launch the NATO Engine, a network bringing manufacturers and factories who have flexible production capacity together with companies, in particular non-traditional suppliers, who require facilities to scale their production under a “contractor-or factory-for-hire” model.

Advancing interoperability

  1. Interoperability is critical for the Alliance’s forces to operate successfully together and underpins capability development. NATO will continue to pursue interoperability and promote it as a continuous requirement throughout the systems lifecycle.
    • Allies and NATO will continue to accelerate the updating, development and implementation of standards and promote the mutual recognition of certifications among Allies, enhance cooperation with standards developing organisations on mutually beneficial standardization projects and boost adoption of suitable non-NATO standards, while Allies will continue to promote the inclusion of NATO standards in contracts.
    • Allies and NATO will further strengthen industry participation and expertise in the development of standards, trials, demonstrations, exercises, and TEVV activities, including through initiatives such as Task Force X and NATO Innovation Ranges.
    • Allies, NATO, and industry will advance the development and adoption of modularity, open architectures and digital standards.

Strategic objective three:
Strengthening, scaling and sustaining defence production

  1. Deeper industry-NATO cooperation on the key enablers of production and sustainment is essential to ensure that the capabilities required for NATO’s deterrence and defence can be effectively generated, scaled and sustained. Resilient, adaptable and skilled defence industry workforces are critical to sustaining and expanding defence industrial production.
    • Allies and NATO will enable the development of scalable and flexible production facilities, focusing on increasing production volumes in the short term and ensuring sustainability and scalability in the long-term, including the ability to surge production, when required. This should include identifying additional capacity, as needed.
    • NATO will initiate a series of Table-Top Exercises that stress-test surge defence industrial production in heightened demand and crisis scenarios, with industry involved in the planning of these exercises. Informed by the outcomes of the table top exercises, Allies, NATO and industry will examine measures to sustain defence production in times of crisis.
    • Allies will continue to take measures to protect defence-critical supply chains, building on the implementation of NATO’s Defence Critical Supply Chain Security Roadmap and the work of the DIPB, to ensure appropriate levels of redundancy and diversification, and mitigate industrial vulnerabilities and dependencies to develop military capabilities free from the hostile influence of potential adversaries.
    • Allies and NATO, together with industry through the DIPB, will assess options for ‘always on’ production models and the establishment of strategic reserves and stockpiles, allowing for sustained delivery of critical defence capabilities.
    • Allies, through national policy initiatives, will seek to further strengthen defence industry workforces9. The DIPB and NIAG will promote the exchange of best practices and lessons learned.
    • Allies will pursue actions to attract and mobilise private capital in support of scaling-up defence innovation, consistent with national approaches and strategies and existing financial architectures.
    • Allies will consider partnerships that prioritise co-design, co-development, co-production and co-sustainment and sharing of key technologies and intellectual property in a way that reinforces NATO while advancing national sovereignty.

Way ahead

  1. The Conference of National Armaments Directors plays the key role in developing cooperation with industry. The CNAD will develop an Implementation Plan by October 2026, in consultation with industry through the NIAG and the DIPB. The Plan will set out the taskings and timelines for Allies and NATO to further operationalise the Strategy for Industry-NATO Cooperation.
     

Appendix 1: Key principles of Industry-NATO Cooperation

  1. Control by the nations. This cooperation is under control by the nations. New areas of development of this engagement are subject to approval by the nations on a case-by-case basis. Engagement with national industry will be carried out in close coordination with Allies.
  2. Voluntary participation. This strategy is offered to industry and nations on a voluntary basis. It has no direct funding implications or legal impact. However, specific issues might have to be jointly considered on a case-by-case basis, to define the rules, boundaries and expectations of engagement.
  3. Trust and Transparency. Trust and an open flow of information are critical for building a productive relationship. The relationship has to be built on an understanding of the mutual benefits for industry, NATO and Allies.
  4. Openness and inclusiveness, equal treatment and opportunity. NATO shall ensure that information is offered equally to Allies’ industry and the information provided by NATO to industry will not privilege individual companies. Industry must be willing to contribute to this information exchange whether individually or in a joint forum; information in a joint forum must be offered to all Allies’ industry. Industry must also have the option of offering their information to NATO bodies and organisations whether following a formal request or by making a spontaneous proposal at their initiative.
  5. Comprehensiveness, coherence and consistency. Industry-NATO cooperation should be comprehensive, spanning all levels of engagement across the NATO Enterprise and involving both traditional and non-traditional defence actors. Engagement with industry must remain coherent and consistent, ensuring a reliable and structured flow of information that enables industry to maintain a clear understanding of NATO’s priorities and objectives and, in turn, to effectively support the Alliance in the execution of its core tasks.
  6. Mutual benefit. Industry-NATO cooperation must benefit Allies, the Organisation and industry. The development and further implementation of this approach will demonstrate willingness to engage in a transparent and mutually beneficial dialogue.
  7. Multinational Cooperation. NATO and Industry shall promote multinational cooperation in capability development and delivery of interoperable military capabilities to improve NATO forces’ effectiveness over the whole spectrum of current and future operations. Enhanced defence industrial cooperation among Allies remains essential for delivering the required interoperable capabilities.
  8. Compliance with existing procurement and security rules. Current NATO financial rules governing the procurement process10 and existing security regulations will continue to be observed.

Appendix 2: Overview of Industry-NATO Cooperation mechanisms, bodies and events

Several NATO bodies are actively engaged with industry in both the pre-competitive and competitive phases. NATO runs a series of events to seek early industry engagement and has also established specific industry liaison mechanisms in different capability areas to ensure continued industry engagement.

This Appendix provides an overview of relevant NATO bodies and mechanisms. More detailed information is to be found in the NATO Front Door for Industry website and will be updated regularly.

NATO Committees

The Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) is the senior advisory committee to the North Atlantic Council on armaments issues. It sets priorities and gives guidance to its substructure, including the DIPB, NIAG, and the Main Groups. These groups comprise military, civilian and industry experts from Allies and partner nations. The CNAD mission is to enable multi-national cooperation on delivery of interoperable military capabilities to improve NATO forces' effectiveness over the whole spectrum of current and future operations.

The Digital Policy Committee (DPC) is responsible for translating NATO’s strategic goals in the area of digital transformation into strategies, policies, and guidance, for the production of architectures, interoperability standards, and digital capabilities. It sets priorities and gives guidance to its substructure, comprising military, civilian and industry experts.

The Committee for Standardization (CS) is responsible for standardization policy and management within the Alliance. It issues policy and guidance for all NATO standardization activities. Its mission is to exert domain governance for standardization policy and management within the Alliance to contribute to Allies' development of interoperable and cost-effective military forces and capabilities.

The Defence Industrial Production Board (DIPB) is a consultative body, created under the Defence Production Action Plan, to exchange best practices, provide advice, make recommendations on defence industrial planning and procurement, and foster mutually beneficial coordination in support of the delivery of NATO and Allied defence capabilities. It is composed of senior Allied representatives, focusing on industrial capacity, supply chain security, and standardisation and interoperability. The Board reports directly to the CNAD.

The NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) is a high-level consultative and advisory body of senior industrialists from Allies, acting as a forum for free exchange of views on industrial, technical, economic, managerial and other relevant aspects of the research, development and production of defence and security equipment within the Alliance. Allied and partner nations’ industry is represented in NIAG through national Heads of Delegation. Through Interface Groups, the NIAG aims to improve liaison between the working bodies and defence industry partners and provide industrial perspectives related to specific activities and tasks.

NATO Bodies and Organisations

NATO Headquarters International Staff, specifically Defence Industry, Innovation and Armaments (D2IA) Division and Cyber and Digital Transformation (CDT) Division, maintain relationships with industry. D2IA is the main focal point for industry within the NATO Enterprise, and coordinates an enterprise-wide, Industry Task Force11. The NATO Standardization Office (NSO) initiates, coordinates, supports or administers all those standardization activities that are conducted under the authority of the Committee for Standardization.

Allied Command Transformation (ACT) employs its Framework for Collaborative Interaction to engage directly with companies either on a one-on-one or one-to-many basis at the non-procurement stages of capability development. Engagements are focused on solving a capability gap or problem of common interest. ACT’s Office for Collaboration with Academia and Industry (OCAI) is the main entry point for industry, ensuring ACT cross-command information sharing on industry. ACT is deeply involved in operational experimentation through a series of initiatives providing opportunities for industry to demonstrate, test and iterate solutions in challenging environments. In addition, the NATO Innovation Continuum coheres, aligns, and focuses innovation efforts, from early-stage projects and technologies to the demonstration of opportunities in the framework of a technology experimentation platform.

Allied Command Operations (ACO) engages with industry through numerous mechanisms to leverage the relationship between operators and industry to the benefit of the Alliance’s warfighting readiness. ACO’s contribution to the Alliance’s efforts to foster innovation and rapid adoption is dependent on regular engagements between operators and industry. Engagements across the entire spectrum of the NATO-Industry relationship take place in close coordination with other NATO Enterprise stakeholders and in accordance with applicable rules and regulations.

NATO Agencies are vehicles for NATO as an organisation and individual Allies to fulfil their capability needs on a voluntary basis. In addition to their procurement activities, many are also involved in pre-procurement activities, with outreach to industry through industry days, requests for bidder’s views on specific topics and individual conversations with industry on relevant topics.

  • The NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) is NATO’s technology and cyber hub. The Agency enables NATO’s mission by procuring digital solutions and resilient communication and information services for seamless connectivity among Allied and partner nations. NCIA is a key partner in NATO's Digital Transformation, collaborating with industry to deliver technical solutions and expertise, facilitating political consultations and enabling multi-domain operations.

    NATEX - NAtional Technical EXperts     are appointed by Allies and embedded in NCIA. They support their national governments and industry, and facilitate awareness of NCIA opportunities.
  • The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) is NATO’s lead organisation for multinational acquisition, support and sustainment to NATO and partner nations. NSPA’s mission is to link national requirements with industrial capabilities, consolidate demand, generate economies of scale and make interoperability real. Registered suppliers can bid on NSPA contracts for a wide range of products and services across all domains.
    NATO’s three multinational Agencies manage the procurement and support of specific capability programmes:
  • NATO Helicopter Management Agency (NAHEMA) is responsible for managing and coordinating the collaborative design, development, production, and in-service logistics for the NH90 Helicopter Programme.
  • NATO AEW&C Programme Management Agency (NAPMA) facilitates day to day management of all aspects related to the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control (NAEW&C) Programme, from acquisition to delivery and life cycle sustainment.
  • NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) is responsible for supporting the procurement, logistics, life-cycle management and enhancements to the Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon weapon systems.

The Science and Technology Organisation (STO) is the main NATO venue for defence and security Science & Technology. Its mission is to promote and conduct collaborative research to support capability development and partnership objectives and to provide strategic advice to NATO decision makers. The STO consists of the Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) in La Spezia, Italy, the Collaboration Support Office (CSO) in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and the Office of the Chief Scientist at NATO HQ.

Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) is an organisation established by NATO to find and accelerate dual-use innovation capacity across the Alliance. DIANA provides companies with the resources, networks and guidance to develop deep technologies to solve critical defence and security challenges, from operating in denied environments to tackling threats to our collective resilience.

Relevant initiatives for Industry-NATO cooperation

NATO Innovation Fund (NIF). A €1 billion multi-sovereign venture capital fund mechanism that invests independently in breakthrough deep-tech companies across the 24 participating nations. Focus areas include defence, security, and resilience technologies.

Innovative Solutions Catalogue (ISC). A catalogue of relevant available and scalable new technological products, facilitating market research for procurement officials and support innovative, interoperable, effects-based solutions to their NDPP capability targets.

NATO Innovation Scale-Up Package. With this package, Allies commit to pursue efforts and create the conditions that enable companies, in particular non-traditional suppliers, to scale their development and production capability and capacity. The package provides a toolbox to build scale today to multiply options tomorrow by: asserting Allied demand; mobilising private capital providers12; and facilitating manufacturing, through the NATO Engine. This NATO Engine will operate as a network, bringing manufacturers and factories13 who have flexible production capacity, together with companies, in particular non-traditional suppliers, who require facilities to scale their production under a “contractor- or factory-for-hire” model.

NATO Innovation Ranges (NIRs). NIRs provide dedicated test and experimentation facilities, with supporting resources, for a wide range of testing and de-risking activities, including OPEX and LIVEX, of new technological products in representative, real-world operational environments. For industry, NIRs offer opportunities to test solutions under realistic conditions, generate credible and transferable evidence for product verification and validation, and accelerate product development and maturation.

NATO’s aggregated demand signal to industry. NATO has shared a classified aggregated demand signal based on the NDPP targets, with security cleared defence industry via Allies’ Ministries of Defence. The CNAD distributes the demand signal to Ministries of Defence for onward dissemination to industry. NATO will release an unclassified Innovation Demand Signal to industry and innovation ecosystems across the Alliance. This will strengthen the alignment of defence innovation activities in support of NATO’s defence planning priorities. The Innovation Demand Signal will help innovators, small-to-medium enterprises and non-traditional suppliers in general understand our defence needs. It will also help the investors understand that innovators can address a viable market.

NATO Task Force X. The Task Force X framework supports Allies in rapidly acquiring, integrating, and deploying new technological products, alongside conventional forces, to help detect, disrupt, and deter malign activities and threats. The Task Force X framework provides Allies a rapid technology integration approach for forward- deployed operational units, applicable and scalable across regions, domains, and problem sets. Initiatives under this framework include:

  • Task Force X-Baltic. Enhancing the maritime security of critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea by providing persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities. It is accelerating the integration of autonomous systems, data integration tools and artificial intelligence into naval operations.
  • Task Force X-Arctic. Designed to demonstrate, how networked uncrewed systems, under ultimate human control, can deliver persistent multi-domain situational awareness across the North Atlantic, the Arctic and the High North in extremely adverse conditions.
  • TF X-Central-Mediterranean. This initiative brings together multiple nations in a coordinated exercise environment to test how emerging and dual-use technologies, operating under ultimate human control, can strengthen NATO's multi-domain awareness and presence along NATO's Southern Flank.
  • Task Force X-Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative. Focuses on strengthening deterrence and defence along NATO’s Eastern Flank using existing scalable, NATO-compliant and battle-proven technologies.

Main conferences and events

NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum (NSDIF). First convened in 2024, the NSDIF is held as an integral part of NATO Summits, dedicated to addressing the most pressing Alliance needs together with industry. The Forum is organised by D2IA on behalf of the Secretary General.

NATO-Industry Forum. A biennial strategic engagement with industry, established in 2013. It brings together Allies with industry for a strategic level conversation on the latest capability trends and how industry is evolving. The Forum is co-organised by ACT and D2IA on behalf of the Secretary General, and is hosted by Allies on a voluntary basis.

NATO EDGE. NATO’s leading digital and communications event, connecting leaders to drive collaboration and readiness, including in digital transformation, communication and information systems, cyber and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). The event is organised by NCIA and is hosted by Allies on a voluntary basis.

Procurement seminars. NCIA and NSPA regularly organise information events on “How to do business with NATO”. These are organised together with Allies and are particularly useful in enabling the engagement of SMEs in NATO business.

Centres of Excellence Industry Days. NATO has an extensive network of Centres of Excellence (COEs), which are international military organisations that provide training, education and subject-matter expertise to Allies and partner nations. They cover a wide range of areas, such as civil-military operations, cyber defence, military medicine, climate change and security, and space operations. COEs organise industry days with the aim to understand the latest technological developments.

National industry days. Allies regularly organise industry information events, either in capitals, at NATO HQ, or at one of the NATO Agencies. These events facilitate the familiarisation of a large spectrum of companies with the NATO Enterprise.

Demonstrations and exercises

Demonstrations, trials and exercises are important tools through which the Alliance tests and validates its standards, concepts, procedures, systems and tactics. More broadly, they enable militaries and civilian organisations to test capabilities and practise working together efficiently in a demanding crisis situation. Below are just two examples from the broad portfolio of NATO’s demonstrations, trials and exercises:

CWIX. Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, is a venue for testing and evaluating NATO and nations’ interoperability across various operational domains, involving thousands of participants and testing hundreds of capabilities.

TIDE Sprint project is ACT’s Think-tank for Information, Decision and Execution Superiority (TIDE). TIDE Sprint is the NATO Digital Interoperability Forum. It brings together the communities responsible for ensuring NATO and partner nations can communicate, cooperate, and operate together through compatible command and control capabilities, information technology services, data, standards, and processes.

Tools

NATO’s primary online engagement platform. The NATO Front Door for Industry (NFDI) will be the principal vehicle to inform industry of ways to connect with the NATO Enterprise, including better amplifying procurement, TEVV opportunities. The platform will host a unified procurement portal, aggregating procurement opportunities across the NATO Enterprise. Additionally, the NFDI will link numerous innovation projects, incorporating data across NATO Innovation Ranges, the Innovative Solutions Catalogue, and DIANA’s Challenges Platform, providing Allies with enhanced visibility of developing capabilities. The NFDI will eventually incorporate a Customer Relationship Management function, linking data-driven insights across NATO-industry engagements, innovative technologies, and NATO capability targets. The NFDI will evolve through an iterative process, informed by user input and aligned with emerging needs – user testing by industry partners from NIAG groups such as SPACENET will drive the future development of the platform.

The Accelerating Interoperability and Standardization (AIS) Fund addresses critical standardization and interoperability needs. Based on yearly priorities, the AIS Fund launches Calls for Proposals and finances Project Proposals addressing standardization and interoperability challenges.

1. The term Industry used throughout this document refers to national industries of Allies either in an individual or collective sense, depending on the context.

2. As outlined in the Defence Production Action Plan, the NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion Pledge, the updated Defence Production Action Plan, NATO’s Rapid Adoption Action Plan, and NATO’s Commercial Space Strategy.

3. Which supersedes the 2013 Framework for NATO-Industry Engagement (FNIE).

4. This includes the NATO Headquarters, the NATO Command Structure, the NATO Force Structure, NATO deployed and embarked headquarters, NATO Agencies and NATO Educational and Training Facilities.

5. Including prime contractors, mid-caps, SMEs, start-ups, and producers of sub-systems and components across defence supply chains.

6. NATO Industrial Capacity Expansion Pledge.

7. Including NDPP, common funded capability development, research and development, and science and technology activities.

8. Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic.

9. Underpinned by national education policies, measures for attracting younger generations to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), reskilling and retraining

10. For example, Procurement Policy for NATO Common Funding and Procedure for NATO Competitive Procurement 

11. A staff coordination mechanism bringing together stakeholders from across the NATO Enterprise, including ACO, ACT, NCIA and NSPA.

12. Including: banks, pension funds, insurers, private equity and venture capital funds, private lenders, hedge funds, and family offices.

13. These factories could be privately owned, public-private partnership, state owned facilities, or research organisations, and/or part of similar national initiatives.

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