The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has launched the challenges of the second edition of NATO‘s own deep tech, dual-use accelerator programme, DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic). Those interested can get a host of support and training as well as up to €400k to develop their innovative defense and security technology solutions.
Interested companies must apply by Friday, August 9. They can also attend the DIANA SEE Info Day, an online workshop organized by Techcelerator on August 2 to learn more about the application process and the program.
The five challenges are in the areas of energy and power; data and information security; sensing and surveillance, human health and performance; and critical infrastructure and logistics.
For all these challenges, innovators are encouraged to consider how their solutions can enhance resilience; develop the potential of space for discovery and innovation; and support environmentally friendly technologies and practices.
The DIANA Accelerator provides those selected with funding, mentoring, testing facilities and access to investors and specialized end-users (32 governments, as well as large private companies). The accelerator program will start in January 2025 and run for up to a year, broken into two six-month phases: ‘Bootcamp’ and ‘Grow’.
Proposals will be assessed against criteria such as alignment to the challenge, novelty, feasibility, dual-use potential, and commercial viability. ‘Dual-use’ potential refers to solutions that can be used for both civilian and military purposes – for example, technologies used for mapping, geolocation or terrain analysis in military operations can also be used by civilians for urban planning or agriculture; cybersecurity solutions for military use can also be used to protect critical infrastructure or financial systems.
Last year, 44 companies from 19 countries were selected from over 1,300 applications to join DIANA. The companies participated in an accelerator program running from January-June 2024 in five locations in Europe and North America. A selection of those first companies will also participate in the second six-month ‘Grow’ phase. Selected technologies ranged from innovative fuel cell batteries to secure optical communications and quantum technology.
With more than 200 accelerators and test centers across the Alliance, DIANA brings together universities, companies and governments to work with startups and other innovators to solve critical defense and security challenges.
How NATO’s DIANA Accelerator Program Works
- Submission of the proposals by Friday, August 9, 2024, 12:00 UTC ( 03.00 EEST time).
- The selected companies will receive €10ok funding and will join the first phase of the program (Bootcamp stage).
- At the end of the first phase, a new selection process will take place and a selected numbers of candidates will move forward to the second phase of the program (Grow phase).
- In the second phase the scaling of the solution starts. This is when the founders will receive additional funding of up to €300k to further develop the technology solution and work with investors and specialized end-users to identify how to use it for another six months.
“DIANA’s purpose is to identify and then support the most exciting deep tech, dual-use start-ups and companies from across the Alliance.” said Adrian Dan, DIANA’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We know that there are many talented innovators in the South-Eastern region of Europe, and are determined to bring as many of them as we can into the DIANA programme. Our job, on behalf of NATO, is helping to build a more peaceful and resilient future. To do that, we are going to need the brightest and best,” added Adrian Dan.
Alumni Sharing Their Experiences with NATO’s DIANA
Those interested can attend the DIANA SEE Info Day on August 2, an online workshop where they can learn more about what NATO’s selection and accelerator program entails. The workshop is organized by Techcelerator, the SEED accelerator targeting advanced technology startups in Romania and Southeast Europe. Interested startups can go to register for the workshop and learn more about the support they can get from the Techcelerator team.
The event will take place online from 17.00 – Bucharest time (16.00 CEST) , and the speakers who will provide information are Ioan Istrate – Venture Capital Advisor NATO DIANA, Andrei Dragomir – Founder & CEO Aquark Technologies and Dragos Stanciu – CEO Grayscale AI.
Andrei Dragomir and Dragos Stanciu, two Romanian founders who will provide information to those interested in applying to the NATO DIANA accelerator, are part of a number of UK-based startups that were selected to join the program in 2023.
“The first edition of the DIANA accelerator attracted over 1,300 applications globally. We want through this first event we are organizing to increase the interest of innovators from the Southeast European area for this program and to see as many startups from our region reaching the scaling and investment phase because this pan-European accelerator offers all the support a founder needs when seeking validation and support from specialized agencies in NATO member states”, said Cristian Dascalu, Co-Founder and Managing Partner Techcelerator.
