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04 Mar 26. “NATO’s 1.5% resilience and security-related spending target creates an opportunity to strengthen collective defence [but]…without a clear governance and accounting approach, the 1.5% risks inefficiency, duplication and politicised re-labelling of domestic spending.”
This is according to Sustainability for Resilience: Meeting NATO’s 1.5% Target, a new research report by RUSI Fellows Dan Marks and Ed Arnold. The report examines how NATO allies can meet their commitment, agreed at the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, to spend 1.5% of GDP on resilience and security-related measures alongside 3.5% on core defence by 2035.
It says that the absence of a standardised definition of eligible spending risks undermining accountability, coherence and value for money at a time of mounting fiscal pressure across Europe, and that without effective governance, the 1.5% target could fail to deliver tangible security gains.
The paper proposes a framework to align resilience investments with NATO’s three core tasks and seven Baseline Requirements for national resilience. The report says that resilience is a domestic policy concern and also a prerequisite for credible deterrence, particularly in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the intensification of hybrid threats across Europe.
The study highlights critical infrastructure vulnerabilities – including rail bottlenecks, constrained electricity interconnections, concentrated gas supply nodes and fragile mineral supply chains – that could hinder reinforcement and industrial surge in a high-intensity conflict. It says that targeted investment in rail, electricity grid reinforcement, decentralised energy systems, dual-use technologies and strategic nature restoration can simultaneously enhance deterrence, reduce emissions and bolster economic resilience.
Key Findings
- The current definition of the 1.5% target lacks clarity and governance. The report warns that “the definition of what counts towards the 1.5% is opaque, with greater clarity expected in 2026 to ensure standardisation, accountability and transparency.”
- Energy system transformation can strengthen resilience to attack. Drawing on the Ukrainian experience, the authors argue that “the strategic deployment of clean energy technologies, grid infrastructure and grid management technologies might deter attacks on energy infrastructure and improve resilience.”
- Infrastructure underpins both deterrence and societal resilience. It states: “Infrastructure determines: the speed of mobilisation, and therefore the credibility of deterrence; the ability to scale and sustain defence industrial production; the ability to supply the front with materiel and energy; and the achievement of the seven baseline requirements for societal resilience.”
- Resilience investments must be aligned to national wartime roles. The report says: “Projects should be counted where they directly support a nation’s role in collective defence or strengthen resilience against hybrid attack in line with the baseline requirements.”
Key Recommendations
- Define and standardise eligibility criteria for the 1.5% target by 2026.
To avoid duplication and re-labelling, the report recommends that “NATO and European countries need to quickly define how best to allocate, monitor and coordinate these funds while building on NATO’s existing processes and planning.”
- Require National Resilience Plans aligned with NATO defence planning.
The paper proposes that “Member states would submit National Resilience Plans outlining the investments required to fulfil their role in collective defence and meet NATO’s resilience objectives.”
- Invest in decentralised and reinforced energy systems. It says: “Adaptable, decentralised energy systems making use of renewable generation and energy storage can enhance ‘energy sovereignty’ and make grids more resilient to physical attack.”
- Prioritise dual-use infrastructure that strengthens mobility and energy security. They report says: “Greater capacity for public transport, particularly rail, is required for military mobility and credible deterrence.”
Conclusion
The report says that NATO’s new 1.5% spending commitment is both a political signal and an opportunity, but if treated as an accounting exercise, it risks becoming pro-cyclical, opaque and strategically misaligned. If anchored in a clear governance framework aligned to NATO regional defence plans and national wartime roles, it can strengthen deterrence by denial while delivering co-benefits in decarbonisation, biodiversity protection and industrial competitiveness.
By linking grid reinforcement, decentralised generation, rail expansion, supply-chain diversification and nature-based defences to measurable resilience outcomes, the report reframes sustainability as a force multiplier. In doing so, it advances a practical model for aligning civil preparedness, industrial strategy and environmental policy with collective defence in an era of systemic rivalry and climate stress.
04 Mar 26. EIF Commits €50m via the InvestEU Defence Equity Facility to Join Capital Fund III for European Deeptech and Dual-use
- EIF commits €50 m to Join Capital’s Fund III, supported by the InvestEU Defence Equity Facility co-funded by the European Commission
- The commitment is its largest so far in defence and is intended to provide additional private capital for strategic innovation in dual-use, defence, security and space
- Join Capital Fund III targets €235m to back dozens of early-stage, deeptech and dual-use startups building critical capabilities across Europe
The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB Group, today announces at the EIB Group Forum in Luxembourg a €50m commitment to Join Capital’s third fund as Europe moves from defence spending announcements to rebuilding industrial capability.
The commitment is the EIF’s largest to date in defence and supported by the InvestEU Defence Equity Facility, which is designed to strengthen Europe’s defence technological and industrial base by backing venture capital funds. Join Capital’s Fund III, targeting €235m, will invest in 25 early-stage deeptech startups across Europe developing technologies with critical capabilities in defence, dual-use, security and space.
“This investment, backed by the InvestEU fund, could not come at a better time, given the strategic importance attached to the fields of space, security and defence,” said EIF Chief Executive Marjut Falkstedt. “With this backing, we are confident that additional investments will follow, helping Europe in building a robust ecosystem for innovative defence solutions.”
“Innovation and disruptive technologies are crucial for EU’s defence readiness. By investing in specialist defence Venture capital funds, like Join capital, the Commission and the EIF are strengthening the financial ecosystem that nurtures and supports our defence innovators, startups and SMEs to grow and scale up in Europe.” said Commissioner Andrius Kubilius.
Join Capital has backed early-stage defence and deeptech innovators across Europe including Optics11 (Netherlands), Quadsat (Denmark), Kreios Space (Spain), Quantum Optics Jena (Germany) and 2D Photonics (Italy). These companies span fibre-optic sensing for critical infrastructure, quantum-secure communications, advanced electronic payloads, and cybersecurity.
“We back founders whose technologies create an asymmetric advantage for their customers in the military and commercial industry. Investments in such dual-use technologies have a doubling effect, they create both deterrence and economic growth for Europe,” said Jan Borgstädt, a Founding Partner at Berlin-based Join Capital.
Throughout history, defence research and development has not only enhanced security but reshaped civilian life. Technologies were born in military programmes, from satellite navigation and radar systems to semiconductors and the internet, now underpin global logistics, communications and productivity.
Join Capital Fund III is focused on ensuring the next generation of critical technologies is developed, scaled and anchored in Europe.
Background information
About the InvestEU Defence Equity Facility
The InvestEU Defence Equity Facility (DEF) is a €175m initiative, co-financed by the European Defence Fund (EDF) – a €7.3bn EU programme dedicated to defence research and development – and the European Investment Fund. This instrument, designed to stimulate the development of an ecosystem of European private funds focused on defence innovation, is expected to unlock over €500m in support of European companies. The Defence Equity Facility is a key component of the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS), which leverages EDF resources to provide targeted support for start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs. EUDIS offers a range of initiatives, including business accelerators, matchmaking events, hackathons, challenges, and grants for disruptive technologies.
The Defence Equity Facility is deployed under the InvestEU programme, which provides the European Union with long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of European Union’s strategic priorities. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub, and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is deployed through implementing partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2bn. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 bn in additional investment.
About the EIB Group
The European Investment Bank (ElB) Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100bn of new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investment union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructures, the EIB Group crowds-in private investment for high-risk innovative projects and businesses, with a growing role in Europe’s markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisations.
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the subsidiary of the EIB Group specialised in providing guarantees and equity to improve access to finance for small and medium size businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilizes private investment and nurtures the ecosystem of venture capital funds to support innovative European entrepreneurs.
About Join Capital
Join Capital is an early-stage, pan-European venture capital fund with offices in Berlin, London, and Milan. Since 2017, we’ve been backing founders whose technologies strengthen Europe’s resilience and strategic autonomy through an asymmetric technological advantage. Our focus is on deep tech across enterprise, industrial, space, and defense sectors — solutions that strengthen economies, secure critical infrastructure, and create enduring strategic advantage.
Join Capital currently invests from its second fund generation, managing over €150m in assets. Investors include NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Isomer Capital, KfW Capital, and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), leading funds-of-funds, and prominent family offices. To date, we’ve backed 36 portfolio companies and successfully realised five exits.
03 Mar 26. EIB Group Forum: New support announced to reinforce European defence and tech sovereignty.
- President Calviño opens 4th edition of EIB Group Forum bringing together European and global policymakers, business leaders and institutions
- EIB Group to expand European Tech Champions Initiative and introduce new instruments to strengthen Europe’s venture capital ecosystem, in push for speed and scale to close funding gap for EU’s tech pioneers
- EIB Group Annual Investment Report launched today shows resilience of EU firms, strong momentum in digital and green investment, and opportunities to unlock Europe’s single market and mobilise savings
The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group today opened the 4th edition of the EIB Group Forum in Luxembourg, with President Nadia Calviño announcing new financing to strengthen European security and defence and laying out a set of actions to advance the Savings and Investment Union, supporting businesses seeking to innovate, expand and compete globally. Held from 3–5 March, the Forum brings together policymakers, innovators, academics and business leaders, this year under the theme of building “A Strong Europe in a Changing World”.
In her opening speech, President Nadia Calviño underlined Europe’s strong fundamentals and the need to accelerate investment, as well as capital market integration, simplification. She stressed the importance of reinforcing Europe’s sovereignty and strengthening global partnerships was more important than ever in these turbulent times.
The EIB Group will propose to its Board – representatives of the 27 member states – the expansion of the successful European Tech Champions Initiative (ETCI) to increase scaleup-funding in Europe, as well as the introduction of a pilot exit toolbox for early investors and start up founders including expanded scaleup debt, convertible instruments, acquisition finance, and support for listings on European stock markets. The plans mark a decisive step to support the Savings and Investment Union with concrete pan-European instruments complementing regulatory measures.
“These tools will help ensure that ideas, technologies and companies born in Europe can grow and thrive in Europe,” Calviño said. “Europe is a global superpower, with the willingness, capacity and the resources to lead the way into the future.”
President Calviño also said in her opening speech that the EIB Group plans to expand the successful Defence Equity Facility, through which the European Investment Fund acts as anchor investor for equity investments into European defence companies, mobilizing capital into specialized private funds. Another major investment into a pan-European venture capital fund dedicated to deep tech and defence technologies will be announced this week.
Also addressing the Forum, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen underlined the vital contribution of the EIB Group, “We are all aware of the profound geopolitical shifts we face. And our mission is clear. Europe must become more independent and more competitive. In this the EIB is an indispensable partner because your investments multiply opportunities and will help us to deliver on our goals “
Keynote speakers attending the Forum include European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission Executive Vice Presidents Teresa Ribera and Raffaele Fitto, Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Jessika Roswall, Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Chief Executive Officer of Mistral AI, Arthur Mensch, astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, actor and United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk.
Investment Report
Among the Forum’s highlights, the flagship EIB Group Investment Report based on a survey of around 13,000 businesses across the EU, shows that European firms have proved to be resilient despite heightened uncertainty caused by geopolitical shifts and recent tariff and energy shocks. Global investors continue to view Europe as a stable, trusted market.
EU firms match US firms in digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence adoption, 90% of them continue to invest in the green transition. Such investment strengthens EU’s energy security and sovereignty as renewables reach two‑thirds of EU power capacity, cutting costs and dependence on imports.
“Investment in Europe has been resilient but needs to accelerate,” said EIB Chief Economist Debora Revoltella. “Investment growth will depend on decisive push for private investment, driven by business opportunities. In this context, leveraging the scale of the EU single market is critical. It will increase business opportunities, firms’ investment, and resilience to external shocks. EU market scale is also critical for the growth of strategic sectors and for further reinforcing the European global role.”
The Report also stresses the need to accelerate investment in grids, storage and cross-border interconnections, address emerging bottlenecks in the energy transition, and strengthen coordination in defence investment as EU governments move toward spending 5% of GDP on security and defence by 2035.
At the same time, the Report shows that removing barriers within the single market could increase firms’ investment intensity by 10%, particularly for intangible assets vital for innovation. Free‑trade agreements under negotiation could increase exports by more than 20% to partner countries.
Additional information on the latest EIB Group Investment Report is available here.
Forum Highlights
Over the next three days, participants will discuss Europe’s investment priorities and the steps needed to reinforce its competitiveness, from digital infrastructure and climate action to strategic autonomy, deeper capital markets and win-win global partnerships.
A number of new agreements and financing commitments will be announced including finance for Europe’s security and defence capabilities, energy efficiency, and tech innovation, deepening cooperation with EU partner financial institutions, clean energy projects in Africa and, and a new partnership with the World Trade Organization. The EIB Group will also launch its third Gender Action Plan, to advance gender equality and women’s economic empowerment in Europe and worldwide.
The President’s full speech is available here
Background information
EIB Group
The European Investment Bank (ElB) Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100bn of new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investment union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructures, the EIB Group crowds-in private investment for high-risk innovative projects and businesses, with a growing role in Europe’s markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisations
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the subsidiary of the EIB specialised in providing equity, guarantees and securitisations to improve access to finance for small and medium size businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilises private investment and nurtures the ecosystem of venture capital funds to support innovative European entrepreneurs.
In 2023, the EIF launched together with six member states (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands) the European Tech Champions Initiative, a fund of funds to scale-up innovative startups. This initiative has already enabled the creation of 14 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 40 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1bn in valuation).
High-quality, up-to-date photos of the organisation’s headquarters for media use are available here.
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Founded in 1987, Exensor Technology is a world leading supplier of Networked Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) Systems providing tailored sensor solutions to customers all over the world. From our Headquarters in Lund Sweden, our centre of expertise in Network Communications at Communications Research Lab in Kalmar Sweden and our Production site outside of Basingstoke UK, we design, develop and produce latest state of the art rugged UGS solutions at the highest quality to meet the most stringent demands of our customers. Our systems are in operation and used in a wide number of Military as well as Homeland Security applications worldwide. The modular nature of the system ensures any external sensor can be integrated, providing the user with a fully meshed “silent” network capable of self-healing. Exensor Technology will continue to lead the field in UGS technology, provide our customers with excellent customer service and a bespoke package able to meet every need.
A CNIM Group Company
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