Skip to the content

From Code to Medicine to Climate: How Resilience Investments Are Driving New Opportunities

Image generated by Gemini

 

Europe stands at a crossroads. The shocks of recent years — from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine — have laid bare just how fragile the continent’s economic and defensive foundations can be. Supply chains once taken for granted have splintered, energy dependencies have become strategic risks, and the comfortable assumption of lasting peace has given way to a new era of insecurity. As global power balances shift and tensions mount, the question facing Europe is no longer whether it needs to become more resilient, but how quickly it can do so.

 

One of the clearest signals that the old status quo is shifting came at the 2025 NATO Summut in The Hague. Pressured by Donald Trump, Allies agreed to raise their defence and security-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. This gave again further legs to the rally in some of the well-known weapon manufacturers. However, investing in such weapon producers comes with moral and reputational risks that many investors, including Econopolis, do not want to take.

 

For decades, NATO’s 2 percent GDP benchmark was shorthand for tanks, jets, and troops. But after successive crises — from cyberattacks and energy shocks to disinformation campaigns and extreme weather — the alliance is redefining what security means. Almost a third of the new 5% spending target is earmarked for areas beyond traditional military defence. These investments will go to “strategic resilience”. This includes protecting critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, civil preparedness, innovation, and strengthening the broader industrial base. The combination of additional government investments combined with a broader, less morally-questionable scope will offer opportunities for investors in sectors such as technology, health care and in particular climate and environment.

 

The most obvious beneficiary of these increased investments will be the technology sector of course, in particular cybersecurity companies. With cyberattacks increasingly used as tools of coercion and sabotage, NATO officials say resilience now begins in code, not concrete. For cybersecurity companies, that means unprecedented access to defence budgets — and a new expectation: to deliver tools that not only prevent attacks, but keep societies running when they inevitably come. Less obvious, but still relevant is the fact that also companies helping with nearshoring supply lines of medical products will benefit from this. The Covid pandemic exposed how quickly a health emergency can become a security threat and NATO planners have taken note. For private-sector biotech and health-tech firms, NATO’s resilience push is creating an unusual but potentially lucrative market. Companies developing rapid diagnostic tools, secure digital patient records, vaccine cold-chain logistics, or AI-powered epidemic modeling may find themselves eligible for funding and strategic partnerships previously reserved for defence contractors. And last but not least, a key beneficiary of NATO’s investments in strategic resilience will be companies related to climate and environment. Extreme weather, disrupted supply chains, and energy instability are now seen as direct threats to security, and resilience funding is being directed toward technologies that can mitigate these risks. Think of companies making the European energy-grid more resilient, or construction and engineering companies reinforcing and mondernizing infrastructure. Or companies in charge of water supply. And evidently, clean energy producers that will make Europe less dependable on Russian or American oil and gas. All such companies are positioned to benefit from new public contracts and innovation partnerships.

Europe is redefining what it means to be secure. With NATO’s strategic resilience investments, tech leaders, health innovators, and climate-focused companies are no longer just businesses — they are part of the continent’s frontline defense. For investors, that means new opportunities to back ventures that protect societies while delivering returns, proving that resilience can be both profitable and vital for Europe’s future.

 

 

 

About the author

Maxim Gilis

Maxim Gilis

Maxim Gilis obtained a Master in Applied Economics at the University of Antwerp in 2015. His master thesis examined the diversification of stocks in emerging markets. Next he obtained an additional Master of Finance at the Antwerp Management School, where he researched sustainable responsible investing for a European asset management company. He joined Econopolis in the summer of 2016.

comments powered by Disqus