NATO DIANA Challenge Programme

NATO DIANA Challenge Programme

Funds for-profit deep-tech companies from any NATO member nation that are developing dual-use solutions to critical defence and security challenges, through competitive annual and dynamic challenge calls.

Eligibility · Global — open worldwide

NATO DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) is a NATO body headquartered in London at Imperial College London's Innovation Hub, with regional offices in Halifax, Canada and Tallinn, Estonia. DIANA runs one Challenge Programme call per year, targeting dual-use deep-tech companies from any of the 32 NATO member nations. The 2026 cohort — the largest in DIANA's history at 150 selected firms from 24 NATO nations, chosen from over 3,000 applicants — kicked off in January 2026 across 16 regional accelerator sites. Based on the established annual cycle, the 2027 cohort call is projected to open around June 2026 and close approximately six weeks later in July 2026, with the 2027 programme beginning in January 2027. DIANA had not publicly announced 2027 dates as of May 2026.

Selected companies receive €100,000 in equity-free contractual Phase 1 funding over a six-month accelerator, with access to 16 accelerator sites, more than 200 NATO-accredited test centres, over 600 mentors, and DIANA's Rapid Adoption Service connecting innovators to Allied military and government end-users. Phase 1 top performers may advance to Phase 2, which provides up to €300,000 in additional non-dilutive funding — bringing the maximum total to €400,000 per company across both phases. Challenge themes are refreshed annually; the 2026 cohort covered ten areas including energy and power, AI and data decision-making, autonomy and unmanned systems, maritime operations, cybersecurity in contested electromagnetic environments, space resilience, human resilience and biotechnologies, extreme-environment operations, communications, and critical infrastructure.

Only for-profit companies (startups, scale-ups, and SMEs) registered in NATO member states are eligible; universities and non-profits cannot apply directly. Technology Readiness Level 4 or above is preferred. Applications are submitted in English via proposals.diana.tech. Given the roughly 5 percent selection rate from the 2026 call, competitive applicants should demonstrate genuine dual-use potential — not just defence or just civilian — and map their technology clearly to one of the ten annual challenge themes. Past cohort data shows that firms with prior defence customer engagement, even informal test pilots, score substantially higher.