NATO Innovation Accelerator opens applications for second batch of students

Applications are now open to innovators from NATO Allies who wish to be selected for the second class of a new initiative to identify and advance dual-use technologies to address complex, contemporary and emerging security challenges.

NATO's North Atlantic Defense Innovation Accelerator (DIANA) initiative will launch in 2023, after which 44 startups from 19 countries have been selected to form its inaugural cohort. These participants submitted ideas across three main “challenge areas” — energy resilience, sensing and surveillance, and secure information sharing — and recently completed a six-month accelerator bootcamp program across five locations in Europe and North America.

According to an announcement DIANA officials shared with DefenseScoop on Monday, those interested in applying for the second phase are asked to submit proposals across five new challenge areas: “energy and power, data and information security, sensing and surveillance building on the first three pilot challenges, as well as human health and performance, and critical infrastructure and logistics.”

The deadline is set for August 9th, giving organisations six weeks to prepare and apply.

“We will select about 15 companies per issue area, which will make about 75, the same ratio as last year. We are very excited about this,” NATO-DIANA's chief scientist, Dr. Thien Pham, told reporters last week.

During several virtual sessions at Diana Media Day June 24, Pham and other officials previewed plans for this second set of challenges, highlighting how the program is working to pave the way for near-term adaptation of high-tech commercial technologies to meet NATO's evolving needs.

“So what do we do? We provide technology developers, innovators, startups and companies with resources across defense and security challenges, a network of end users, accelerators, testing centers, everything, expertise to build a more peaceful and resilient ecosystem and enable us to address some of the challenges we may face within the alliance in the future,” Pham explained.

In addition to a growing associated network of more than 200 accelerator sites and test centres in innovation clusters across Alliance member countries, there is also a DIANA regional office in the UK and a regional hub in Estonia.

Plans are also underway to open a new office in Canada later this year.

Pham said NATO received about 1,300 applications for the first batch of challenges, about 450 in each of the three areas.

Technologies developed by the initially selected 44 companies include, but are not limited to, innovative fuel cells, micro wind and hydro turbines, secure optical communications and drone identification capabilities.

Responding to questions from DefenseScoop on Monday, a senior NATO spokesperson confirmed that each startup received €100,000 for DIANA's first phase, which involved a six-month boot camp that formally concluded last week.

Those from the first cohort selected for the next six-month phase will receive a further €300,000. This “scaling up” focus will be launched separately from, but at the same time as, this new challenge that will support the next cohort.

“The numbers will be the same in the second challenge. [as it comes together] “Testing can begin next year. Companies can also apply for additional funding for testing,” the official said.

Each of this year's five application areas “seeks to address significant, complex challenges facing the world and invites emerging and disruptive technology developments as part of a portfolio of potential solutions,” alliance officials said in a press release calling for applications for the next round.

“Proposals will be evaluated against criteria such as potential transformative impact, novelty, technical feasibility and commercial viability,” they wrote.

Notably, the alliance’s latest call for DIANA proposals comes just one week before the 2024 NATO summit in Washington.

Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh confirmed at a press conference on Monday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other senior Pentagon officials plan to meet with their international counterparts at the summit, but declined to provide details about the plans.

Written by: Brandi Vincent Brandi Vincent is DefenseScoop's Pentagon correspondent. She reports on emerging and disruptive technologies and related policies that impact the Department of Defense and its personnel. Prior to joining Scoop News Group, she produced feature documentaries and worked as a journalist for Nextgov, Snapchat and NBC networks. She was named a 2021 Paul Miller Washington Fellow by the National Press Foundation and received SIIAs 2020 Jesse H. Neal Award for Best News Reporting. Brandi grew up in Louisiana and earned her Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland.

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