NATO innovation accelerator DIANA now accepting applications

Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, or DIANA for short, was launched on June 19 at Tehnopol Science and Business Park. This means that the application round is now open and the first wave of challenges made public. All the teams that are accepted to the accelerator will receive a grant of 100,000 euros, and the best teams can get as much as a further 300,000 euros.

Head of DIANA-Affiliated Accelerator in Estonia Kadri Tammai said that the new accelerator will create many opportunities that have not previously existed, at least in Europe. “A large part of innovation today comes from the technology industry, and DIANA will bring together the civil and defence sectors to help build a more secure future for all of us. It can give access to more than 90 test centres across the Alliance, a programme developed jointly by MIT and other experts that brings together defence and business, and serious funding in grants that does not demand that equity in the company or corporate IP rights be given away. DIANA also works to bring different parties together, because we know well that cooperation with the defence sector is seen as difficult and slow. It wants to make changes here to help businesses find faster and more agile ways of working together with the defence forces and with the world’s largest defence industry companies”, she explained.

Startups and small businesses from the civil and defence sectors across the whole of the alliance are invited to apply to the accelerator if they are developing technologies that can find applications both in our everyday life in the civilian sector and also in national defence. The technologies that DIANA is targeting this year are those in the three general categories of energy, communications, and monitoring.

Ministry of Defence Hanno Pevkur said that we must not underestimate how new technologies can make an impact in strengthening our defence forces, as we have seen in very sharp focus in the war in Ukraine. “The problems that have been posed, and for which we are seeking innovative solutions, are critically important in a military perspective but also have a clear impact outside that military context. The aim of the DIANA programme of bringing together civilians and the military fits perfectly with our broad expansion of national defence, and I am very pleased to see that Estonia has taken an important role in leading this new NATO initiative”, he said.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Information Technology Tiit Riisalo noted that the goal of the accelerator was to bring together the strengths of all the allies in developing new technology and in bringing it into use. “Estonia’s strength is undoubtedly our flourishing startup ecosystem and our rapidly developing defence industry, and I am very glad that Estonia has been the launching pad for the first DIANA. DIANA will give companies in Estonia and its neighbours the chance to execute their ideas in areas where there is great potential for growth today, and so there is also a great opportunity to contribute to security and defence through NATO”, he said.

The accelerator in Estonia will led by the Tehnopol Science and Business Park working together with the Tartu Science Park and the business accelerator Startup Wiseguys. Tehnopol CEO Indrek Orav said that although the accelerator was only just being officially launched, the preparations have already been under way for some time under the leadership of the Startup Incubator team, and startup companies are ready showing interest in DIANA. “Together with our partners we have a lot of knowledge and experience about running an innovation accelerator, and we are very pleased to provide the platform for this initiative. Tehnopol and NATO DIANA are both working to exactly the same end of supporting innovation and companies with world changing ideas”, he said.

All the companies involved in the accelerator will have access to around a hundred NATO testing centres. The DIANA accelerator brings together several local test environments for new technology from TalTech, the University of Tartu, Foundation CR14, the National Defence College, the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences, and the Estonian Aviation Academy.

Applications for the accelerator are open until August 25. The first companies to be accepted for the accelerator will be chosen in September, and the accelerator programme will start in December.

For more information about DIANA and to apply: https://www.diana.nato.int/.

Challenges for the first wave of the accelerator: https://www.diana.nato.int/challenges.html