Companies are invited to register on the program's website www.nato-diana.org and submit their solutions in the areas defined by the competition by August 9.
The first stage will last for six months, during which the winners of the grant competition will be able to get funding of 100,000 euros, as well as access to an accelerator network, to develop dual-purpose innovations. The second stage of the challenge program will also last six months, during which the amount of allocated funding can reach up to 300,000 euros.
"This year, the funds of the grant program will be allocated to innovative technical solutions in promoting energy security and resilience, strengthening data and information security, developing surveillance technologies, developing human health and performance, as well as strengthening critical infrastructure and logistics," said the ministry.
Companies participating in the competition will have access to more than 200 accelerators and test centers in Europe and North America to develop their innovative ideas and products.
The companies must be registered in a NATO member state and must operate in the field of dual-use science-intensive technologies.
One of DIANA's test centers will be located at the Ādaži military base near Rīga, where a 5G test environment has been created, creating an ecosystem for developing and testing new generation wireless technologies. Likewise, the 'UniLab Defense' accelerator will operate in Latvia in the future, as the first accelerator from Latvia to join the accelerator network.
More details about the NATO DIANA initiative can be found here.
