NATO DIANA
DIANA, the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, is a NATO body that runs competitive challenge programmes and funds dual-use start-ups in Allied countries.
DIANA, the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, is a NATO organisation that finds and accelerates technology for defence and security use. It works by issuing challenge calls on problems set by the Alliance and selecting companies to receive funding, testing and mentoring. NATO describes it as an agency focused on deep-tech, dual-use innovation.
Origins
NATO leaders agreed to launch DIANA at the Brussels Summit in June 2021, as part of the NATO 2030 agenda. Foreign Ministers endorsed its charter in April 2022. The charter covers the mission, strategy, legal authorities, financial mechanism, governance and initial footprint, including regional offices, accelerator sites and test centres. The first regional office opened in March 2023 at the Imperial College London Innovation Hub. DIANA launched its first pilot challenge programmes in June 2023 and announced its first cohort in November 2023: 44 companies, chosen from more than 1,300 applicants.
How it works
Applicants respond to regular challenge calls, which are framed around capability problems rather than named products. Eligible organisations are start-ups, scale-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises and dual-use organisations headquartered in a NATO Allied country. According to NATO, selected innovators can receive up to EUR 400,000 in non-dilutive funding, meaning support that does not take an equity stake. They also gain access to a network of more than 200 test centres, plus mentors, experts and investors. NATO reported in March 2024 that the network had grown to 23 accelerator sites and 182 test centres across 28 Allied countries, and its current pages quote a higher test centre figure, so the numbers change over time.
The test centres matter because dual-use companies often lack access to representative environments in which to trial hardware, sensors or software. Accelerator sites provide business support, which is an unfamiliar area for many technology firms that have not previously worked with defence customers.
Relationship to other bodies
DIANA is separate from the NATO Innovation Fund, which is a venture capital vehicle that takes equity. The two are often mentioned together because they were launched under the same agenda and serve overlapping groups of companies, but their money, governance and incentives differ. Nor is DIANA a procurement body: a successful challenge participant is not guaranteed a contract. Within Europe, DIANA complements Union instruments such as the European Defence Fund, which funds collaborative projects between several Member States.
Why it matters for defence technology
Defence software, sensors, autonomy and communications increasingly come from firms that began in commercial markets. DIANA offers those firms a structured route into Allied requirements and a way to test products against them. For governments it gives an early look at emerging suppliers and supports the move toward faster, more modular acquisition described under software-defined defence.
What to watch
Points to follow include the topics of future challenge calls, the rate at which participants win Allied contracts or private investment, the geographic spread of the network, and how the programme’s funding is maintained as Allied budgets change.
Sources
Related: European Defence Fund · NATO Innovation Fund · Software-defined defence