NATO preps tech competition to solve real-world security issues

STUTTGART, Germany — NATO’s nascent defense technology accelerator is preparing to launch the first several competition-style programs, meant to help the alliance find solutions to emerging technology problems .

NATO plans to begin this fall initial “challenges” under the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, or DIANA, initiative, the alliance announced March 22. The events will pit competitors against each other to solve real-world security issues, such as operating in a GPS-denied environment, officials previously explained.

A call for participants to apply for the challenges is to take place in mid-2023, and up to 30 participants are to be selected for each challenge. The number of challenges and awardees is expected to grow annually until the program is fully operational by 2025, according to NATO.

The first challenges will take place at the following five accelerator sites, pending the conclusion of contractual arrangements:

Tehnopol in Tallinn, Estonia.

Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin, Italy.

BioInnovation Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark.

MassChallenge in the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts.

Pacific Northwest Mission Acceleration Center in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington.

NATO members formally agreed to launch the DIANA initiative in April 2022, along with an initial €1 billion (U.S. $1.1 billion) investment in an innovation fund. The goal is for DIANA to help the alliance speed up trans-Atlantic cooperation on technologies such as artificial intelligence , big-data processing, energy and propulsion, autonomy, space, biotechnology, hypersonics, and quantum advancements.

DIANA will also build a network meant to support defense- and national security-focused tech startups that are developing NATO-relevant efforts through grant programs.

In December 2022, the DIANA board of directors agreed that energy resilience, secure information sharing, as well as sensing and surveillance would be the initiative’s technology priorities for 2023. Barbara McQuiston, deputy chief technology officer for science and technology at the U.S. Defense Department, is chair of the board. Imre Porkoláb, ministerial commissioner for defense innovation at Hungary’s Defence Ministry, serves as vice chair.

The board also recently agreed to add 28 new “deep-tech test centers” to the entity’s footprint, alongside two new accelerator sites in North America. That brings the total number of test centers to 91, with 11 accelerator sites, the alliance said March 22. That footprint is expected to continue to grow, according to NATO officials.

The Europe-based accelerator sites are currently located in London, England; Copenhagen; Brussels and Wallonia in Belgium; Tallinn; Turin; Prague, Czech Republic; Ankara, Turkey; Lisbon, Portugal; as well as Athens and Heraklion in Greece. In the United States, Boston and Seattle each host an accelerator site.

France intends to give DIANA access to national technology accelerators drawn from across its domestic innovation sector, according to NATO.

Meanwhile, the following countries have offered to link up existing and new national test centers to DIANA’s network: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Vivienne Machi is a reporter based in Stuttgart, Germany, contributing to Defense News' European coverage. She previously reported for National Defense Magazine, Defense Daily, Via Satellite, Foreign Policy and the Dayton Daily News. She was named the Defence Media Awards' best young defense journalist in 2020.

德国斯图加特——北约新成立的国防技术加速器正准备启动首批几个竞争式项目，旨在帮助北约找到新兴技术问题的解决方案。

北约于3月22日宣布，计划于今年秋季启动北大西洋防务创新加速器（DIANA）计划下的首批“挑战赛”。官员们此前解释说，这些赛事将让参赛者相互竞争，以解决现实世界的安全问题，例如在GPS信号受限的环境下作战。

北约计划于2023年中期启动挑战赛申请，每个挑战赛将选拔至多30名参赛者。北约方面表示，挑战赛数量和获奖者人数预计将逐年增加，直至2025年该计划全面投入运行。

首批挑战赛将在以下五个加速器基地举行，具体安排尚待合同敲定：

位于爱沙尼亚塔林的Tehnopol。

Officine Grandi Riparazioni 位于意大利都灵。

丹麦哥本哈根生物创新研究所。

MassChallenge 在美国马萨诸塞州波士顿市举行。

位于美国华盛顿州西雅图市的太平洋西北使命加速中心。

北约成员国于2022年4月正式同意启动DIANA计划，并向创新基金投入10亿欧元（约合11亿美元）的初始资金。DIANA的目标是帮助北约加快跨大西洋在人工智能、大数据处理、能源与推进、自主系统、太空、生物技术、高超音速和量子技术等领域的合作。

DIANA 还将建立一个网络，旨在通过资助计划支持那些专注于国防和国家安全、致力于与北约相关的科技初创企业。

2022年12月，DIANA董事会一致同意，能源韧性、安全信息共享以及传感和监视将是该计划2023年的技术重点。美国国防部负责科学和技术的副首席技术官芭芭拉·麦奎斯顿担任董事会主席。匈牙利国防部国防创新部长级专员伊姆雷·波尔科拉布担任副主席。

该委员会近期还同意在其现有设施中新增28个“深度技术测试中心”，并在北美新增两个加速器基地。北约3月22日表示，这将使测试中心总数达到91个，加速器基地总数达到11个。据北约官员称，预计这一规模还将继续扩大。

目前，欧洲的加速器中心分别位于英国伦敦、哥本哈根、比利时布鲁塞尔和瓦隆尼亚、塔林、都灵、捷克布拉格、土耳其安卡拉、葡萄牙里斯本以及希腊雅典和伊拉克利翁。在美国，波士顿和西雅图各设有一个加速器中心。

据北约称，法国打算让 DIANA 能够接触到来自其国内创新领域的国家技术加速器。

与此同时，以下国家已表示愿意将现有和新的国家检测中心连接到 DIANA 的网络：比利时、保加利亚、丹麦、爱沙尼亚、法国、德国、希腊、匈牙利、意大利、拉脱维亚、立陶宛、荷兰、挪威、波兰、葡萄牙、罗马尼亚、斯洛伐克、斯洛文尼亚、西班牙、土耳其、英国和美国。

薇薇安·马奇是驻德国斯图加特的一名记者，主要负责《防务新闻》的欧洲报道。她此前曾为《国家防务杂志》、《防务日报》、《卫星通讯》、《外交政策》和《代顿每日新闻》撰稿。2020年，她荣获防务媒体奖最佳青年防务记者称号。