Dear Canadian Industry, 

The NATO Industry Advisory Group (NIAG) will soon decide which proposed studies to take up during 2022. The list of possible studies was prepared by the Main Armaments Groups of the Conference of National Armament Directors (CNAD) – the NATO Air Force Armaments Group (NAFAG), NATO Naval Armaments Group (NNAG), and NATO Army Armaments Group (NAAG) – and other NATO entities like Allied Command Transformation (ACT). 

Your input on study priorities is required by 17:00 Pacific Time on Sunday, October 31. 

You can provide input using this form: https://forms.office.com/r/bBqQQyERsU 

The most valuable industry contributions to NIAG studies are by the active participation of technical experts, and not business development or sales leads who try to sell their products and services. 

The NIAG will determine approx. 6-10 proposed studies that it will conduct in 2021, based on budget availability, and which will be placed on its “reserve list” to be taken up pending funding, maturity of the topic, industry interest, etc. The proposed list of 2022 studies is attached and is also available at: https://www.defenceandsecurity.ca/UserFiles/Image/publications/NIAGProposedStudies2022.pdf 

The factors that inform whether the NIAG will prioritize as study are: 

  • Does the study topic/question reflect a priority for the sponsor group (e.g. NNAG, NAAG, NAFAG)? 
  • Is there industry interest and expertise in participating in the study group? 
  • To what degree does the study topic/question support NATO priorities (e.g. defence planning priorities, Smart Defense, Connected Forces Initiative)? 

A few studies (indicated next to the title in the list) anticipate requiring participants have a NATO security clearance. This can take several months to obtain. The NIAG Kickoff and Exploratory Group meetings, when conducted in person, are usually held at NATO HQ. This requires participants to have a valid NATO Secret clearance so that participants can obtain an unescorted building pass. During COVID-19 these NIAG meetings were held virtually so no clearances were required. It is not yet clear if arrangements for hybrid NIAG meetings will be possible for all NIAG meetings, though efforts are being made.

The NIAG is a structured framework for NATO to engage with allied industry to obtain consensual view on a "pre-competitive" basis (e.g. capability development) and to fairly seek industrial expert advice from all member and partner nations. More information about the NIAG is available at: https://diweb.hq.nato.int/niag/Pages_Anonymous/Default.aspx 

Thank you,

BNATO Support to Industry