The program developed by the Atlantic Alliance aims to monitor and accelerate the development, validation, and adoption of these companies’ innovations to help NATO face “urgent operational challenges and maintain a decisive advantage in defense technology,” the organization stated in a press release.
The two Portuguese companies selected were Connect Robotics, which develops drones for automated goods transportation and delivery, and Neuraspace, which has developed an AI-based space defense platform.
The companies participating in the program to develop these dual-use technologies were chosen to address “ten defense and security challenges,” the information note added.
These challenges, according to the Alliance, include “advanced communications and contested electromagnetic environments, autonomy and unmanned systems, energy and power, biotechnology and human resilience, and critical infrastructures and logistics.”
The 150 selected companies will, starting from January next year, receive funding and have access to the DIANA network, which comprises over 200 test centers in the 32 NATO member countries.
The interim director-general of the NATO DIANA program, James Appathurai, stated that the selected will “accelerate breakthrough technologies that can help transform how the Alliance defends against current and emerging threats.”
“The mission is to find the most innovative companies, help them develop their solutions and expand their businesses, and put the technologies we need in the hands of NATO operators,” Appathurai added, as cited in the release.
