Bulgaria hosts NATO DIANA board meeting for the first time
The board of NATO's defence innovation accelerator met at Sofia Tech Park. Minister Ivan Vasilev pointed to growing interest from Bulgarian companies.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Bulgaria has hosted a meeting of the Board of Directors of DIANA, NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, for the first time. The meeting took place on Tuesday at Sofia Tech Park, the BTA news agency reported. It was the first time the board had met in Bulgaria since the programme was set up in 2022. Innovation and Digital Transformation Minister Ivan Vasilev opened the session. He pointed to the growth of Bulgaria's innovation ecosystem and rising interest in DIANA from Bulgarian companies, saying more and more start-ups and technology firms want to join the programme.
According to Vasilev, Sofia Tech Park is one of DIANA's newest accelerator sites, where start-ups from across the Alliance can develop dual-use technologies with civilian and military applications. Bulgaria also has four test centres in the programme, covering areas such as artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, microelectronics, cybersecurity and quantum technologies. The minister stressed that the programme should be developed in close cooperation with all NATO allies. Delegates also visited the INSAIT institute and the Bulgarian aerospace technology company EnduroSat.
Sofia Tech Park was selected as a DIANA accelerator site in May. In March, the tech park, the Defence Institute, the GATE Institute, the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy and the Research and Development and Innovation Consortium signed an agreement on cooperation in security and defence innovation. According to BTA, the aim is to turn research in fields such as drones, AI and cybersecurity into practical solutions and to help start-ups reach new markets.