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Business opportunities

  1. NATO and business. The Lisbon and Wales NATO Summits have acknowledged that direct relations between NATO and the industry are opportune. As a frame to these ties, NATO has developed the Framework for NATO-Industry Engagement.

To achieve its mission, NATO needs capacities that are mainly developed by industry. To this end, NATO has created an articulated framework of relationships with the industrial sector. At the non-contractual and pre-competitive level, NATO interacts with industry through the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG), the Framework for Collaborative Interaction (FFCI), the NATO Industry Cyber Partnership (NICP), and the NATO Industry Forum (to be held in Stockholm in 2023). Conferences, symposia and seminars are also regularly organised. At the contractual level, the relationship with the industrial sector is primarily managed by NATO Agencies and governed by internal procurement rules.

For more details if interested, companies can refer to the NATO portal for business opportunities: NATO business portal.

 

  1. Activities in support of Italian companies by the Permanent Delegation of Italy to NATO.

– NATO bids.

While defense procurement is carried out by each member country – in Italy’s case the responsible entity is the Secretariat General of Defense/National Armaments Directorate through the competent Technical Directorates – NATO offers significant business opportunities to Italian companies in sectors related to its functioning. The acquisition of goods and services takes place through international bids published by Allied countries: for Italy, the entity responsible for the communication to companies is the Ministry of Industry and Made in Italy, through which interested companies can request to be registered in the List of Italian companies having the requirements to participate in NATO bids.

Participation in these bids requires a specific knowledge of the regulation in force within the framework of NATO, which differs from both Italian and European regulations. In order to facilitate the approach of Italian companies to the NATO world, the Permanent Delegation of Italy, in addition to providing support in the different steps of the procedure, has prepared an ad hoc handbook intended to be an efficient working tool for a first contact with NATO bids.

Italian companies that are interested in the opportunities offered by NATO can contact the Commercial Office of the Permanent Delegation of Italy here: comm.natobruxelles@esteri.it.

 

– Meetings and informative events on collaboration opportunities with NATO.

Getting to know NATO. The Permanent Delegation of Italy periodically organises informative and educational meetings about procurement between interested Italian companies and NATO. These meetings aim at facilitating the contacts between Italian companies and NATO and at getting the companies acquainted with NATO procedures and requests.

The dates of the periodic meetings will be published on the website of the Permanent Delegation and interested companies are invited to confirm their attendance.

Informative seminars. In collaboration with the Permanent Delegation of Italy, the Italian Trade & Investment Agency (which promotes Italian companies abroad and supports their internationalisation) launched in 2023 a series of informative seminars addressed to companies about opportunities with NATO (and the EU) in sectors outside of the defence industry. The topics discussed in 2023 are: DIANA and NIF (June 2023); Cyber, AI, ICT (27 September 2023); critical infrastructures (October 2023); space (December 2023).

 

  1. Useful contacts:

Email address of the Commercial Office of the Permanent Delegation of Italy to NATO: comm.natobruxelles@esteri.it.

 

  1. e-Guide to NATO bids for companies

The digital version of the e-Guide to NATO bids for Italian companies, published by the Permanent Delegation of Italy to NATO, is available here.

 

  1. Useful links: