New technological challenges for dual-use innovations in defense

On June 10, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, together with Sofia Tech Park, will organize an information day on the new opportunities under the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA). The event will take place in the Venue hall, Incubator building of Sofia Tech Park.

On June 2, DIANA launched ten new challenges aimed at finding the next generation of dual-use deep technologies to help advance NATO's mission to build a peaceful, secure, and sustainable future. Proposals can be submitted to DIANA until July 11.

The selected innovators will join Phase 1 of the program and will have the opportunity to participate in a six-month acceleration program starting in January 2026. This will make them part of the DIANA innovator community.

The ten areas in which DIANA will ask innovators to submit proposals are: energy and power; modern communication technologies; contested electromagnetic environments; human resilience and biotechnologies; critical infrastructure and logistics; operations in extreme environments; maritime operations; sustainable space operations; autonomy and unmanned systems; and data-driven decision making.

Participants approved for participation will receive funding of 100,000 euros, access to a network of over 180 test centers in Europe and North America, as well as tools to scale their business, navigate complex defense procurement processes, and strengthen their partner network.

Bulgaria participates in the initiative with four test centers - the Institute "Big Data for Intelligent Society" GATE at Sofia University, the Institute of Defense "Prof. Tzvetan Lazarov", a consortium for scientific research and innovation in Sofia Tech Park, as well as the Naval Academy in Varna.

During the event, Emma Ryan, a manager at DIANA, will present the programs and the application process, after which the participants will have the opportunity to ask questions. The working language of the event is English.

To apply, interested parties must register on the provided links and obtain a DUNS number, which is completely free of charge.