The Polish Development Fund has made a €42 million (PLN 190 million) contribution to the newly launched NATO Innovation Fund (NIF). It focuses on innovative and breakthrough technologies with potential for dual use in civil and military matters.
- NIF involves 23 NATO member states who made respective contribution to the fund. On behalf of Poland, the Polish Development Fund made the investment in the amount of €42 million through its investment arm PFR Ventures. The investment was made in consultation with the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of National Defence.
“We have many years of experience in allocating funds to venture capital and private equity funds. We have built a center of competence in this area and we will gladly use it to ensure that Poland is properly exposed in the fund,”
Aleksander Mokrzycki, Vice President of PFR Ventures and member of the advisory group of the NATO Secretary General for new technologies, says.
- Recently, the Polish Development Fund and PFR Ventures signed cooperation agreements with the Ministry of National Defence. The deal is aimed at providing opportunities related to NATO projects: the DIANA accelerator and NIF.
“The war in Ukraine highlights the need to develop modern technologies that can be used by the military. It’s not only about purely armament technologies, but also innovations, for example in the field of reconnaissance or communication. These are areas that are often developed on the civilian market, and can also be usefully implemented in the army. I hope that the NATO Innovation Fund will invest in Polish innovative projects, which will be helped by the regional office,”
Paweł Borys, president of the Polish Development Fund, comments.
- Apart from Poland, upon Finland’s accession to NATO in 2023, the country’s state-owned investment company Tesi also pledged to make a €35 million investment in the fund.
- In general, NIF will have approximately €1 billion under management, with nearly 5% being Poland’s contribution.
