NATO DIANA: how the Alliance solves the adoption problem
In February 2026, NATO DIANA’s Defense & Security Days gathered over 1,000 participants from 34 nations at MOTORWORLD München. The three-day event brought DIANA innovators, accelerator partners, military end users, primes, and investors together for demonstrations, adoption-focused panels, and challenge-driven networking. DIANA used the event to make its core point plain: NATO does not lack technology; it faces an adoption deficit. The Munich gathering is a timely way to open any assessment of DIANA because it shows the organization operating at scale, convening real users and innovators, and demonstrating concrete progress toward adoption.
What is DIANA?
Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) is NATO’s transatlantic innovation accelerator that finds, funds, tests, and accelerates dual-use deep technologies for Alliance needs. DIANA was approved by Allies in 2022 as part of NATO’s wider approach to emerging and disruptive technologies and became operational as a federated accelerator and test-center network. Its design intentionally leverages civilian deep tech ecosystems, regional accelerators, and a broad collection of test centers so that dual-use innovations can be iterated, demonstrated, and transitioned to operational adoption across NATO.
How DIANA came about
NATO recognized a capability and innovation gap in the early 2020s and built a strategy for emerging and disruptive technologies. DIANA emerged from that strategy and Allied agreement in 2022.
DIANA has been intentionally structured as a distributed network of accelerator sites and test centers rather than as a single lab. This model launched pilot activities, expanded to dozens of affiliated accelerator sites and hundreds of test centers, and matured into full cohort cycles and a Rapid Adoption Service.
Relationship to Smart Defense (loosely)
DIANA is a practical contemporary expression of NATO’s older Smart Defense logic. Smart Defense, launched around 2011–2012, is the Alliance’s policy to prioritize, pool and share capabilities across members rather than each nation duplicating expensive systems. DIANA applies this same coalition logic to innovation: pool access to talent, testing infrastructure, and buyer communities so the Alliance finds and adopts capability faster and at lower joint cost. In short, Smart Defense set the doctrine of cooperative capability building; DIANA applies that doctrine to the lifecycle of deep-tech innovation.
Strategic purpose: objectives by horizon
DIANA’s public messaging and policy documents make its strategic purpose clear. Below is a practical framing you can use on your site.
Short term (Now–2 years)
Rapidly identify and onboard high-potential dual-use innovators into cohort cycles.
Provide Phase 1 contractual funding for iteration and initial testing.
Use the Rapid Adoption Service (RAS) to connect prototypes to military end users and real-world tests.
Medium term (2–5 years)
Select high performers into Phase 2 for deeper prototyping and mission demonstrations.
Accelerate adoption pathways so prototypes demonstrably reach operational trials with Allied forces.
Strengthen the accelerator and test center network for broader, repeatable TEVV (Testing, Evaluation, Verification, Validation) capacity.
Long term (5+ years)
Institutionalize fast, coalition-scale pathways for dual-use innovation to move from lab to field within NATO procurement and acquisition timelines.
Raise Alliance resilience by integrating commercial deep tech into multinational capability baselines.
Mature the broader NATO innovation ecosystem so that adoption becomes routine, not episodic.
How DIANA is structured in NATO
Core components
Headquarters and regional offices. DIANA’s main presence is in London with a regional hub in Tallinn and a growing North American office (Halifax). It is supported by a federated set of affiliated accelerator sites and test centers across NATO.
Accelerator sites and test centers. DIANA works with more than 20 accelerator sites and roughly 180–200 test centers that provide the infrastructure for TEVV activities and local onboarding. These partners deliver the Phase 1/Phase 2 accelerator curriculum and local mentorship.
Rapid Adoption Service (RAS). DIANA operates RAS to create practical, low-friction pathways from demonstrated prototypes to adoption by Allied militaries. RAS was emphasized in DIANA public materials and the Rapid Adoption Action Plan endorsed at the 2025 Hague Summit, which set aggressive adoption expectations (for example, Alliance-level targets to accelerate fielding).
Relationship to the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF)
The NATO Innovation Fund is a state-backed, multi-sovereign venture vehicle (reported at roughly €1 billion over 15 years) designed to invest in deep tech that aligns with NATO priorities. It is a separate but complementary instrument to DIANA. DIANA runs challenge calls, accelerates innovators, and de-risks technology; NIF provides venture capital to scale deep tech across private and public markets. The two are functionally complementary: DIANA builds adoption pathways while NIF offers longer-horizon, patient capital to scale companies the Alliance considers strategically important.
Current cohort (2026):
DIANA’s 2026 Challenge Program selected 150 innovators from 24 NATO countries. All of these companies were selected into the 2026 cohort and entered DIANA’s Accelerator Program starting January 2026. Phase allocations follow DIANA’s two-phase model: Cohort entrants begin Phase 1 (contractual funding to iterate an idea), with a competitive down-select for Phase 2 (additional funding and deeper demonstrations).
Defence Innovation Atlas
222 dual-use tech companies across 28 nations — 2025 & 2026 Cohorts
Created by Michael Trudeau
€300K non-dilutive grant
Incubator and accelerator network
DIANA partners with a distributed set of accelerator sites across the Alliance. These are the local incubator/accelerator nodes that deliver the program curriculum, mentor innovators, and coordinate local TEVV.
MassChallenge — Boston, United States. Global accelerator supporting autonomy, resilience, and operations challenges.
Palladion Defence Accelerator / University of the Bundeswehr Munich — Neubiberg / Munich, Germany. Key German accelerator partner and host for Motorworld events.
IGNITY — Liège, Belgium. Belgian accelerator focused on space, biotech, and electronics.
BII Quantum Lab (BioInnovation Institute) — Copenhagen, Denmark. Quantum and life science focused accelerator.
FORT Kraków — Kraków, Poland. Regional site supporting autonomy and unmanned systems.
ODTÜ TEKNOKENT — Ankara, Türkiye. Major Turkish technopark and DIANA accelerator partner.
The Gate Brainport — Eindhoven, Netherlands. University of Technology affiliated accelerator emphasizing AI and data science.
Innovation Accelerator @ Demokritos — Athens, Greece. Science-driven, deep-tech hub.
PNW MAC — Seattle / Pacific Northwest, United States. DIANA’s Pacific Northwest mission acceleration center and earlier pilot partner.
DualTech by Takeoff — Turin, Italy. Deep tech and dual-use acceleration partner.
DIANA’s public pages list roughly 20+ accelerator sites and 180–200 test centers; for the interactive map you should ingest the full DIANA accelerator and test center lists from DIANA’s site and link each cohort company to its assigned accelerator and the TEVV test centers where the company will validate.
DIANA is the Alliance’s operational answer to the adoption problem. It combines a challenge call, a distributed accelerator network, test centres, and a Rapid Adoption Service to move dual-use deep tech into operational hands. DIANA sits alongside the NATO Innovation Fund, which provides complementary, patient capital. DIANA’s 2026 cohort and the Motorworld Munich convening demonstrate the model working at scale. For your site, use the Motorworld event as the narrative hook, publish the DIANA cohort dataset with clear provenance, map accelerators and test centres by city and country, and track Phase 1 → Phase 2 progress and any adoption milestones as they are announced.
Sources:
NATO DIANA. “NATO DIANA Defence & Security Days 2026.” DIANA, 19 Feb. 2026, https://www.diana.nato.int/connect/nato-diana-defence-security-days-2026.html. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
“DIANA | 2026 Cohort of Companies.” DIANA, https://www.diana.nato.int/about-diana/2026-cohort-of-companies.html. Published Dec. 2025. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
NATO. “Kicking Off NATO DIANA’s 2026 Programme.” NATO News, 3 Feb. 2026, https://www.nato.int/en/news-and-events/articles/news/2026/02/03/kicking-off-nato-diana-s-2026-programme. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
NATO. “NATO’s DIANA connects innovators and end users through the Rapid Adoption Service.” NATO News, 12 Dec. 2025, https://www.nato.int/en/news-and-events/articles/news/2025/12/12/nato-s-diana-connects-innovators-and-end-users-through-the-rapid. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
NATO. “DIANA | About.” DIANA, https://www.diana.nato.int/about-diana.html. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
NATO. “DIANA | Test centres.” DIANA, https://www.diana.nato.int/test-centres.html. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
NATO. “NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator announces largest-ever cohort of 150 innovators to work on ten defence and security challenges in 2026.” NATO News, 10 Dec. 2025, https://www.nato.int/en/news-and-events/articles/news/2025/12/10/nato-defence-innovation-accelerator-announces-largest-ever-cohort-of-150-innovators-to-work-on-ten-defence-and-security-challenges-in-2026. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
NATO. “Industry engagement: Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA).” NATO, https://www.nato.int/en/work-with-us/business-and-project-opportunities. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
“DIANA, NATO’s innovation accelerator, doubles the size of its transatlantic network.” DIANA press release, 14 Mar. 2024, https://www.diana.nato.int/resources/site1/general/press/diana-press-release-diana-network-expansion-14-march-2024.pdf. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
“NATO Innovation Fund.” Resilience Media (reporting), 25 July 2025, https://resiliencemedia.co/news-nato-innovation-fund-strengthens-its-deep-tech-bench/. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
NATO. “NATO unveils Smart Defence initiative; background and Summit references.” NATO News (archive), 2012–2014 materials, https://www.nato.int. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.