OPEN CALL – NATO /OTAN has pledged 1 billion Euros for its new defence accelerator – early-stage startups wanted
NATO member states agreed in 2022 to establish the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic ( DIANA) to connect the alliance with startups and academic institutions working on new and disruptive technologies for defense.
The unique aspect here is in the development and implementation of disruptive technologies to mitigate the likelihood and impact of conflict.
The initial investment in an innovation fund is a whopping 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion). The fund will invest in early-stage startups and emerging and disruptive technologies. The goal of DIANA is to help the alliance accelerate transatlantic collaboration in artificial intelligence, Big Data processing, energy and propulsion, autonomy, space, biotechnology, hypersonics and quantum development.
DIANA’s mission is to improve societal resilience and build security. This includes addressing global systemic risks such as climate change.
NATO member states agreed in 2022 to establish the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic ( DIANA) to connect the alliance with startups and academic institutions working on new and disruptive technologies for defense.
The Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic ( DIANA) opened applications June 19 for its first set of challenges, where companies can apply for hundreds of thousands of euros in funding.
The June pilot challenges have three themes for the 2023 program: Energy Resilience, Secure Information Sharing, and Sensing and Surveillance.
The technology challenges – which reflect the primary mission of DIANA – are intended to support innovative startups and small businesses focused on dual-use science and technology solutions that could help with critical defense problems, DIANA’s executive director Deeph Chana told reporters in a recent virtual briefing.
Deeph Chana, executive director of DIANA has said, “We want to attract these innovators to the problems that we have in security and defense, but we also we want to see these [security and defense] problems put into a much broader context,” he said. “When we talk about defense, we think about how science and technology can help us reduce the likelihood of conflict breaking out and have the kinds of tools and systems we need to resolve conflict more efficiently and effectively in the future.”
DIANA is looking for people who excel in technology and who can connect their technology to our dual-use mission – innovators who can apply their technology to a civilian problem here and a more tactical military problem there.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană and U.K. Minister for Defense Procurement Alex Chalk open the first regional office of NATO ‘s Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) at the Innovation Hub at Imperial College London. Photo credit: NATO
A call for applications for the challenges will be held in mid-2023, and up to 30 participants will be selected for each challenge. The number of challenges and awardees is expected to increase annually until the program is fully operational by 2025, according to NATO.
Read the challenge guide HERE!
The first competitions will be held at the following five accelerator sites until contractual agreements are finalized:
- Tehnopol in Tallinn, Estonia.
- Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin, Italy.
- BioInnovation Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark.
- MassChallenge in the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts.
- Pacific Northwest Mission Acceleration Center in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington.
European Accelerator sites are currently located in London, England; Copenhagen, Brussels and Wallonia, Belgium; Tallinn, Turin, Prague, Czech Republic; Ankara, Turkey; Lisbon, Portugal; and Athens and Heraklion, Greece. In the United States, Boston and Seattle each host an Accelerator site.
Meanwhile, the following countries have offered to connect existing and new national test centers to the DIANA network: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Featured photo credit: U.S. Navy
