Ukraine’s Defence Ministry signs cooperation deal with NATO’s DIANA innovation accelerator

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA). It is NATO’s defence innovation accelerator, which allocates tens of millions of dollars every year to support the Alliance’s defence tech projects.

According to the Ministry of Defence, this is the first agreement of its kind between DIANA and a NATO partner country. On the Ukrainian side, Deputy Defence Minister Serhii Boiev signed the memorandum.

What the memorandum provides for

• The memorandum is intended to facilitate additional funding for joint projects.
• A catalogue of Ukrainian defence tech. It is planned to be developed to record solutions, support their testing and facilitate deployment. The catalogue will collect data on UAVs, electronic warfare systems, radars and unmanned ground vehicles, as well as technology readiness levels, test results and potential applications.
• Catalogue synchronisation and information exchange. The Ukrainian catalogue is to be aligned with innovation technology catalogues of NATO countries. Information exchange will help identify shared needs, set priorities and plan joint challenges, testing and deployment of solutions.
• Joint work with DIANA and JATEC. Ukrainian combat experience and the needs of the Defence Forces are to be considered when defining technology priorities, preparing and announcing innovation challenges, supporting projects and testing developments. Testing may take place in Ukraine, among other locations.
• Access to NATO expertise and infrastructure. According to the Defence Ministry, DIANA gives Ukraine access to the Alliance’s defence expertise and infrastructure. This should help promising technologies progress from an idea to practical application.

In a statement, NATO noted that the partnership should strengthen the innovation ecosystems of Ukraine and the Alliance. Ukrainian developers will be better able to navigate NATO requirements, find opportunities to test promising technologies and overcome barriers to scaling them. NATO, in turn, expects to expand the pool of innovative suppliers and technologies that can strengthen the Alliance’s defence industrial base.