Feature: NATO's DIANA moves to Phase 2 with focus on rapid adoption

Kelluu produces hydrogen-powered airships, providing aerial sensing capability as a service. Above, testing during NATO ‘REPMUS 2025'. (NATO DIANA)

NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) announced in September the 14 companies selected for Phase 2 of the programme, ranging from hydrogen-powered airships to data mesh technology. As DIANA helps these companies transition their technology for possible defence use, it is adopting a more rapid and adaptive approach to support military needs.

DIANA focuses on sourcing future capabilities from dual-use innovators, providing successful applicants with access to funding, an accelerator programme with 17 sites, and 200 test centres to demonstrate their technologies. It also provides the innovators with mentoring from experts such as scientists and industry partners, while maintaining an investor network for third-party funding.

At the end of 2024, DIANA announced that 74 companies had been picked out of 2,600 submissions to join Phase 1 of the programme for 2025; these companies would receive EUR100,000 (USD116,409) to help iterate their proposed solution, demonstrate their technologies, and work on how their dual-use innovation could be adapted for military use.

From those 74 companies, a final 14 have moved on to Phase 2, where they will receive additional funding of EUR300,000 to further scale their solutions, along with a range of other support. These companies are pursuing dual-use innovation across five broad technological categories: human health and performance; data and information security; critical infrastructure and logistics; energy and power; and sensing and surveillance.

Towards adoption