NATO approves charter of DIANA innovation accelerator with European headquarters in UK

NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels between 6 and 7 April approved the charter of DIANA with a European headquarters hosted by Imperial College London. (NATO)

NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels between 6 and 7 April approved the charter of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) with a European headquarters hosted by Imperial College London.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the approval during a press conference after the meeting on 7 April, stating that DIANA “will include a network of around 60 innovation sites in North America and Europe. Working with the private sector and academia, allies will ensure that we can harness the best of new technology for transatlantic security”.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on its website on 5 April that Imperial College would bring together academia, industry, and government by hosting the DIANA headquarters and a DIANA accelerator at the Translation and Innovation Hub (I-HUB) in the White City Innovation District, which shares space with the UK's Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), major defence contractors, and the US Department of Defense's Tri-Service Office. The companies include Airbus's Defence and Space Division and the Saab Innovation Hub, according to the White City Innovation District's website.

The UK MoD expected DIANA's European headquarters “to accelerate, test, evaluate, and validate new technologies that address critical defence challenges and contribute to alliance deterrence”. The ministry added that the UK's accelerator would be twinned with a new accelerator in Estonia's capital, Tallinn, “to encourage the sharing of expertise, explore the use of virtual sites to trial vehicles, including autonomous ones, and test cyber innovations”.