Evolution
NATO has been supporting innovation, both in Allied armed forces and in its own capabilities, since the Alliance was founded in 1949. However, the accelerating pace of emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs) is creating rapid and large-scale changes – not only in everyday life, but also in security and defence. The timeline below lays out milestones in the development of NATO’s EDT-related policies.
December 2019 – NATO Leaders agree an Emerging and Disruptive Technology Implementation Roadmap with seven original EDT areas: data, AI, autonomy, quantum technologies, biotechnology and human enhancement technologies, hypersonic technologies and space. The purpose of this roadmap is to help structure NATO’s work across key technology areas and enable Allies to consider the implications of these technologies, for instance for deterrence and defence, and capability development.
December 2019 – NATO Leaders declare space to be a fifth operational domain, alongside air, land, maritime and cyberspace. This follows the adoption of NATO’s overarching Space Policywhich was agreed by Allied Defence Ministers in June 2019.
December 2019 – NATO Leaders ask Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to lead a forward-looking reflection process to strengthen NATO both militarily and politically and to adopt a more global approach for the Alliance. Over the subsequent months, this takes shape as the NATO 2030 initiative.
June 2020 – Following consultation with Allied parliamentarians, civil society, public and private sector experts, and young leaders, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg lays out his priorities for NATO 2030. This includes a focus on innovation and critical technologies to make sure that the Alliance remains ready to face tomorrow’s challenges. The Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) and the NATO Innovation Fund begin to take shape as key pillars of the NATO 2030 agenda.
July 2020 – The Secretary General establishes the first NATO Advisory Group on EDTs. The group consists of 12 external experts from the private sector and academia, from countries across the Alliance. These experts provide advice to NATO on the adoption of new technologies and other aspects of innovation, including education, financing and innovation ecosystems.
September 2020 – The 2020-2022 NATO Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies presents recommendations to the NATO Innovation Board, including on innovative technologies that NATO should be pursuing as a priority.
February 2021 – NATO Defence Ministers endorse NATO’s Coherent Implementation Strategy on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, with a focus on the seven EDT areas from the 2019 EDT Implementation Roadmap.
March 2021 – The NATO Advisory Group on EDTs publishes its first annual report (for the year 2020), providing four key recommendations for NATO: improve technology literacy throughout the Organization; establish a network of Innovation Centres; design and facilitate new financing mechanisms for innovation with private sector entities, both small and large; and create innovation partnership initiatives with external EDT stakeholders from industry and academia.
June 2021 – At the 2021 Brussels Summit, NATO Leaders agree the NATO 2030 agenda to ensure the Alliance can face the challenges of today and tomorrow, including by sharpening NATO’s technological edge. As part of the NATO 2030 agenda, they also agree to launch DIANA and to establish the NATO Innovation Fund.
October 2021 – NATO Defence Ministers endorse NATO’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategysetting out how the Alliance aims to adapt AI to meet operational requirements, and to accelerate and mainstream the secure and trustworthy integration of AI across a range of Alliance capabilities. Ministers also endorse the Data Exploitation Framework Policy. Seventeen Allies sign up to develop the framework for the NATO Innovation Fundand to establish how it will work in practice.
February 2022 – NATO Defence Ministers endorse the first Annual Report on Innovation and EDTs, defining new activities to enhance NATO’s technological readiness, including by adding two new EDT areas: novel materials and manufacturing, as well as energy and propulsion.
April 2022 – NATO Foreign Ministers endorse the charter for DIANAwhich outlines its mission and strategy; legal authorities; financial mechanism; governance; and the regional offices, accelerator sites and test centres that will make up its initial footprint. Foreign Ministers from 21 Allies agree the framework for the NATO Innovation Fund.
April 2022 – The NATO Advisory Group on EDTs delivers its second annual report (for the year 2021), examining three critical, ongoing work strands aimed at enabling NATO and Allies to adopt new technologies at pace and maintain a technological edge: DIANA, the NATO Innovation Fund and the Human Capital Innovation Policy (which contains recommendations for NATO on how to attract, retain and develop talented employees with technical skills and innovation mindsets).
June 2022 – At the 2022 Madrid Summit, leaders from 22 Allied countries commit to participating in the NATO Innovation Fund. (Finland and Sweden became the 23rd and 24th participating countries following their accessions to NATO in April 2023 and March 2024 respectively.) Separately, NATO Leaders unveil DIANA’s updated initial footprint of test centres and accelerator sites across the Alliance.
October 2022 – NATO Defence Ministers endorse NATO’s Autonomy Implementation Plan and the establishment of NATO’s Data and Artificial Intelligence Review Board. The Data and Artificial Intelligence Review Board serves to operationalise NATO’s Principles of Responsible Use of AI, as set out in NATO’s AI Strategy. The Autonomy Implementation Plan drives a coherent approach to NATO’s autonomy protection and development efforts in line with the Alliance’s norms, values and commitment to international law.
February 2023 – NATO Defence Ministers endorse the second Annual Report on Innovation and EDTs, which outlines NATO’s approach to fostering and protecting EDTs in 2023. The Report adds next-generation communications networks as a new EDT area and determines that data has been sufficiently mainstreamed into NATO lines of effort, including data exploitation and digital transformation, to no longer be considered a standalone EDT area.
February 2023 – NATO’s Data and Artificial Intelligence Review Board (DARB) meets for the first time to start the development of a user-friendly Responsible AI certification standard.
February 2023 – NATO announces plans to establish the Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) initiative to enhance space-based surveillance and intelligence for the Alliance, which will improve situational awareness and decision-making processes.
March 2023 – DIANA opens its first regional officeat the Imperial College London Innovation Hub in London, United Kingdom.
June 2023 – DIANA launches its first three pilot challenge programmesinviting innovators to apply to its programmes.
July-August 2023 – The NATO Innovation Fund appoints the investment team that will manage the EUR 1 billion venture capital fund, and confirms the participation of 23 NATO Allies as Limited Partners (becoming 24 when Sweden joins the Alliance in March 2024).
November 2023 – Allied Foreign Ministers approve NATO’s Quantum Technologies Strategy.
November 2023 – DIANA announces its first cohort of innovatorshaving selected 44 companies from over 1,300 applicants to join its accelerator programme.
March 2024 – DIANA doubles the size of its network of accelerator sites and test centres. DIANA’s network will now comprise 23 accelerator sites (up from 11) and 182 test centres (up from 90) in 28 Allied countries, augmenting DIANA’s capacity to support innovators from across the Alliance as they develop their technologies.
April 2024 – NATO Defence Ministers endorse NATO’s Biotechnology and Human Enhancement Technologies Strategy.
July 2024 – At the 2024 Washington Summit, Allied Leaders endorse NATO’s revised Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategywhich builds on the AI Strategy published in 2021 and takes account of recent advances in AI technologies, such as generative AI and AI-enabled information tools.
July 2024 – The NATO 2024 EDT Annual Report (covering 2023-2024) sets the direction for the Alliance to develop a “NATO Rapid Adoption Action Plan” in time for the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague.
July 2024 – At a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council during the 2024 Washington Summit, NATO and Ukraine launch new joint activities to support Ukraine’s self-defence through the first NATO-Ukraine Innovation Cooperation Roadmap.
June 2025 – At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, Allied Leaders endorse NATO’s Rapid Adoption Action Plan to accelerate the pace at which the Alliance adopts new technologies and increase the production capacity of Allied innovation ecosystems.
June 2025 – At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, six NATO Allies (Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands and Sweden) sign a Letter of Intent to establish the NATO Innovation Ranges network.
November 2025 – During Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska’s visit to Kyiv, NATO launches the UNITE – Brave NATO programme with Ukrainededicating up to EUR 50 million to joint innovation competitions between NATO and Ukraine.
December 2025 – NATO’s Innovation Range for future connectivity in Finland launches the first NATO Innovation Range event, a technology demonstration in support of NATO Allied Land Command (LANDCOM).
March 2026 – NATO and Ukraine launch the interactive UNITE – Brave NATO web portal and lay out the steps for industry to participate in the first innovation competition, which is providing contract awards of EUR 10 million to meet urgent air defence and counter-uncrewed aerial system (UAS) challenges.
March 2026 – NATO’s Innovation Range for uncrewed systems in Latvia launches its first Testing, Evaluation, Validation and Verification (TEVV) campaign.
July 2026 – At the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, Allied Leaders endorse the NATO Innovation Scale-Up Packagewhich includes the first public demand signal to industry and innovation ecosystems across the Alliance; a Call to Action to private capital providers; and the launch of the NATO Engine. They also launch NATO’s Drone Edge to expand counter-drone capabilities.
July 2026 – NATO launches the pilot Innovative Solutions Catalogue, listing relevant available and scalable new technological products for Allies to consider as they procure capabilities.
Source: www.nato.int
