Speech

Good morning everyone.
And a very warm welcome to the NATO Headquarters.

At our Summit in June, NATO leaders took bold decisions.
To future-proof our Alliance.
And sharpen our technological edge.
This included the creation of a new NATO Innovation Fund.

Today I am delighted to announce that the Defence Ministers of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania,Slovakia, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom are signing an agreement to set up this new Innovation Fund.

Thank you so much to the Defence Ministers from those countries for joining me this morning. 
And thank you to Luxembourg for already offering to provide the legal framework and contribute to the set-up costs for the fund.

We expect this new multinational NATO fund to invest a billion euros.
To support innovators and  developing tomorrow’s cutting-edge technologies.

The fund will help to bring in other sources of public and private investment, and promote investment opportunities and market access across the whole Alliance,
and also to protect our most innovative technologies and entrepreneurs from our competitors.

Complementing the NATO Innovation Fund, we are also establishing a Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic – DIANA.
And let me take this opportunity to thank Allies for offering test centres, accelerator sites, and more to make DIANA a world-beating success.

DIANA and the Innovation Fund will be true transatlantic endeavours. Headquartered in both Europe and North America.
Binding our Alliance together and forging a shared Euro-Atlantic path on new technologies. 

At the Brussels Summit, NATO leaders committed to strengthening our Alliance.
Including by promoting and protecting transatlantic innovation.
Today we are delivering on that commitment.
And together we will keep our people safe in a rapidly changing world.
So thank you so much to all of you for joining me this morning, very impressive crowd of ministers.