NATO DIANA is the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic that was established by NATO Allies and aims to support emerging and disruptive technologies and engage deep tech innovators in NATO member nations. It covers the areas of artificial intelligence, autonomy, biotechnologies and human enhancement, quantum technologies, energy and propulsion, novel materials and manufacturing, big data processing, hypersonics, new communication technologies, and space – with an emphasis on dual-use solutions for civilian and defence purposes.

Through DIANA, NATO is working with partners from the public and private sectors, academia, and civil society. The established network of accelerators and test centres, which brings start-ups together with end users, scientists, and system integrators, offers the companies accepted into the programme access to:

  • grants to support technology development and demonstration,
  • 10+ accelerators,
  • 90+ test centres,
  • mentoring from scientists, engineers, industry partners, end users,
  • an investor network for trusted third-party funding,
  • opportunities to demonstrate technology in operational environments.

In 2023 DIANA launched the first three pilot challenge programmes. Once DIANA achieves full operating capacity in 2025, it will run up to ten challenge programmes per year, while also having the capacity to interact with hundreds of innovators across its network of accelerator sites and test centres in NATO countries.

As one of the Slovenian representatives in the programme, the Laboratory for Telecommunications (LTFE) is participating in the network of more than 90 test centre sites providing support with infrastructure and services covering 5G and cyber security. Companies accepted into the NATO DIANA programme gain access to the LTFE test center which includes:

  • a comprehensive experimentation and prototyping environment comprising IP network, 5G mobile core, and indoor radio access network, as well as IoT, cloud infrastructure, and data services ecosystem,
  • Spirent test, measurement, and verification system for wireless communications environments,
  • a cybersecurity facility Cyberlab that operates several cybersecurity tools and services for monitoring attacker activity and collection of attack data in real time.

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