'Uniting disruptors to shape a peaceful future.'
DIANA is NATO's defence innovation accelerator programme, uniting deep technology companies to address defence and security challenges while providing them with resources, networks and guidance. This year (2024), their first pilot programme began, selecting 44 companies out of over 1300 applicants. We're proud to announce that we're one of them!
Selection
Our proposal was assessed on how doable it is, how new and relevant it is for defense and security, whether it could make money and if it could shake things up. We are proud that the evaluation panel, made up of technical experts, NATO defense and security end users and DIANA's investor network, concluded that we ticked all these boxes. This means they recognize how valuable we are for the defense industry.
Sensing and Serveillance
DIANA provides participants with grant funding, an accelerator program focusing on commercial and defense aspects, access to test and evaluation resources and exposure to valuable investors and end users from across the Alliance.
As part of the accelerator program, we spend one week per month in Tallinn's Science Park Tehnopol in Estonia. Together with 15 other startup companies, we tackle the specific defense and security challenge of 'Sensing and Serveillance'. This category focusses on the necessity of monitoring what lies beneath the surface. At Lobster Robotics, we're exploring how our high-resolution images of the seafloor can be used to protect critical underwater infrastructure and identify anomalies on the seabed.
Each week of the accelerator programme features a different theme. So far, we've covered topics on leadership, business development, marketing, branding, reputation management and pitching. Additionally, we've attended workshops on navigating within the defense industry and networking with mission driven organizations.
The accelerator at Tehnopol is an intensive program that challenges us immensely in developing our deep technology, company and team. We're very excited and looking forward to the next few months!
Partners
