October 7, 2026
NATO Innovation Fund and Finland’s DEFINE launch partnership to advance Nordic defence
The NATO Innovation Fund and Defence Innovation Network Finland (DEFINE) today announced their collaboration to accelerate the innovation, testing and adoption of emerging technologies that are addressing critical security needs of NATO nations.
The Memorandum of Understanding, signed at the annual Resilience Conference in London, will enable NATO Innovation Fund portfolio companies to participate in exercises and pilots in Finland, helping innovators test the effectiveness of what they are building, connect with end-users and partner with Finnish companies to deliver cutting-edge tech that strengthens NATO’s Nordic defence capabilities.
“Maintaining our technological edge requires rapid innovation at scale. By helping companies test their products in the field, learn from end-users and iterate based on real-world data, DEFINE is helping them give Nordic nations- and beyond – the technological capabilities that they need to advance their security and strengthen their resilience.”
Finland plays a critical role in protecting NATO’s Eastern Flank, and the Nordic region needs technologies that perform in extreme cold and unpredictable weather. This collaboration will help promising startups to test their solutions, iterate and move rapidly from the lab to the field, while also ensuring that their tech delivers results across geographies and under any conditions.
“Finland has the technology, talent and companies to play a much bigger role in NATO defence innovation. DEFINE connects these capabilities with real users, testing environments and capital. Our cooperation with the NATO Innovation Fund strengthens Finland’s position as a practical gateway between European defence innovation and NATO.”
The partnership builds on a history of cooperation between the two organisations. NATO Innovation Fund portfolio companies including Kelluu, TEKEVER, STARK, TYTAN and ARX Robotics have participated in NATO Innovation Range demonstrations organised by DEFINE across Finland, in cooperation with the Finnish Ministry of Defence and NATO.
“Finland’s eastern border is one of the hardest places in Europe to operate: icing, deep cold, constant GPS jamming. If it works here, it works anywhere on NATO’s flank. DEFINE has created an industry led ecosystem, which hosts the NATO Innovation Range in Finland which lets us prove that in front of real operators, take their feedback in real time and fly an improved version within days. That loop is the difference between a demo and adoption.”
The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, an independent public fund that promotes and finances Finland’s renewal, has supported the nationwide expansion of DEFINE.
“By linking Finnish innovation ecosystems with the NATO Innovation Fund, this partnership creates new pathways for companies to test, validate and deploy solutions that strengthen European security and competitiveness.”
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