One in ten of the NATO DIANA teams will make their leaps forward in Estonia

NATO DIANA announced today the companies that will be coming to Estonia to develop their solutions in the second year of operations of their innovation accelerator. There are 13 accelerator sites operating across the countries of the Alliance this year, which is eight more than in the pilot year, and more than 2600 technological solutions applied for a place at one of them. Over 70 companies were eventually chosen, representing 20 different NATO member states, and seven of them will be starting their development path within the programme in Estonia. The NATO DIANA Estonian accelerator is led by the Tehnopol Startup Incubator working together with Sparkup Tartu Science Park. 

All the companies from across the whole of the alliance that have been accepted to the accelerator are developing technologies with great potential that can find applications in everyday life in the civilian sector, as well as in the defence sector. The companies chosen this year have put forward solutions in the five areas of energy and power, data and information security, sensing and surveillance, human health and performance, and critical infrastructure and logistics. The three cross-cutting umbrella themes of these areas of technology are space, resilience and sustainability. The challenges were designed jointly by all the members of the alliance to address critical defence and security problems. 

“Dual-use technologies and development of them have become increasingly important. We need to ensure the security of the state and at the same time support the development and application of products that have high value added from research and development. The NATO DIANA accelerator is a good international platform for talent where startup businesses and the research-intensive defence industry can come together, which then helps our economy grow and increases our security”, said Minister of Economy and Industry Erkki Keldo. 

All the teams that have been accepted to the Estonian accelerator will receive funding of 100,000 euros from NATO DIANA, and the best can get as much as a further 300,000 euros in funding in the second phase of the programme. They will also get access to over 180 testing centres, a programme linking defence and business, and a network of mentors all across the alliance. DIANA acts as a bridge between universities, companies and the public sector in order to support the development of innovative technology that can help solve civilian and military problems and lay the path towards a sustainably secure world in the future. 

“We are very pleased to see that despite the intense competition, two Estonian companies were also chosen for the NATO DIANA accelerator in this year’s round. Being chosen gives them a unique opportunity to develop their dual-use technologies and become part of the global NATO network. NATO DIANA has proven itself in its first year to be an excellent high-level programme for promoting innovation in defence. New deep-tech solutions are of critical importance for increasing defence capacity on the modern battlefield, and we are very excited to see the new and innovative solutions that will help to increase Estonia’s security and our capacity to defend ourselves”, said Ministry of Defence Hanno Pevkur. 

The NATO DIANA Estonian accelerator is again being led by the Tehnopol Science and Business Park this year. The great strength of Estonia’s biggest business incubator is its deep understanding of startups and its long experience of supporting the growth of startups built around technology. 

The decision by NATO DIANA to send about a tenth of the teams chosen to Estonia is a mark of recognition for the Estonian accelerator programme. “The pilot year of the accelerator produced very good results and demonstrated that the Estonian programme lays a clear foundation for companies to grow rapidly and develop. The programme this year has been tweaked even further using the experience gained during the pilot year and is designed to offer even greater value to the companies participating. That three of the companies from the accelerator here advanced to the growth phase of DIANA and each received up to an additional 300,000 euros is further recognition of the Estonian accelerator”, said Chief Executive Officer of Tehnopol Agnes Roos. She noted that the NATO DIANA accelerator in Estonia fits together with Tehnopol’s aim of supporting world-changing innovation. 

The companies in the Estonian NATO DIANA accelerator will be: Scaleout from Sweden; Factiverse from Norway; Resquant, IS-Wireless, and Microamp Solutions from Poland; and Telearmy and Wayren from Estonia. 

The innovative remote teledriving technology made by Telearmy and already used on the frontlines in Ukraine can be integrated with existing vehicles, allowing them to be driven remotely at long distance and at high-speed using Starlink or Radiolink. 

Wayren is developing a platform to ensure uninterrupted communications in critical environments, preventing life-threatening delays in mines and on the battlefield. 

The companies will start their development work in the accelerator in December. Other accelerators alongside the one in Estonia are also operating in Denmark, Italy, Czechia, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Canada, and the USA. 

The accelerator in Estonia is run by the Tehnopol Startup Incubator working together with Sparkup Tartu Science Park. The funding to start the accelerator in Estonia comes from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the city of Tallinn. Estonian contributors to building the pan-Alliance network of testing centres are TalTech, the University of Tartu, Foundation CR14, the National Defence College, the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, the Estonian Aviation Academy, and Metrosert.