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Context: At a signing ceremony hosted by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Leaders and Ministers from 22 Allied countries launched NATO’s Innovation Fund, the world’s first multi-sovereign venture capital fund.

Details:

• With a 15-year timeframe, the NATO Innovation Fund will help bring to life those nascent technologies that have the power to transform our security in the decades to come, strengthening the Alliance’s innovation ecosystem and bolstering the security of our one billion citizens.
• The Fund will invest 1 billion euros in early-stage start-ups and other venture capital funds developing dual-use emerging technologies of priority to NATO.
• These include: artificial intelligence; big-data processing; quantum-enabled technologies; autonomy; biotechnology and human enhancement; novel materials; energy; propulsion and space.
• The Fund will complement NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic – or DIANA – which will support the development and adaptation of dual-use emerging technologies to critical security and defence challenges.
• There has also been significant progress for DIANA at the 2022 Madrid Summit where Allies agreed that innovators participating in DIANA’s programs will have access to a network of more than 9 Accelerator Sites and more than 63 Test Centres across Europe and North America.

What is NATO?

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance created in 1949.
• Aim: to provide collective security against Soviet expansionism and to encourage European political integration in the aftermath of World War II.
• It serves as a collective security system, wherein its member states agree to mutually defend any attack on a member party.
• Membership: There are 30 countries that are currently part of NATO. Two countries in North America and 28 European countries, including several former Soviet nations.

What does it take to become a member of the alliance?

• It employs an "open door policy" for aspiring members.
• Any European country can become a member of the Alliance at the invitation of the North Atlantic Council.
• Aspiring nations have to meet certain political, economic, and military standards to join. That includes
  • New members must uphold democracy, including tolerating diversity
  • New members must be making progress toward a market economy
  • Their military forces must be under firm civilian control
  • They must be good neighbors and respect sovereignty outside their borders
  • They must be working toward compatibility with NATO forces

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_197494.htm

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