BRUSSELS — NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) and Ukraine signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday, October 29, which opens new opportunities to develop and test technologies together and to deepen cooperation between Ukraine and NATO's innovation ecosystems, NATO said in its official release.
Source: NATO
The agreement, signed at NATO Headquarters, is the first of its kind between DIANA and a NATO partner, NATO said. It builds on the broader NATO-Ukraine cooperation across their innovation ecosystems, which NATO said has developed significantly since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Source: NATO
"This Memorandum of Understanding is a beginning. A door is opening. Now our job is to walk through it together," said Jyoti Hirani-Driver, Acting Managing Director of DIANA. "We have an enormous amount to learn from Ukraine."
Source: NATO
A partnership built on reciprocity, NATO says
NATO said the partnership is built on reciprocity: Ukraine has developed an extraordinary innovation ecosystem while confronting the realities of modern conflict, rapidly testing, adapting and improving technology under the most demanding conditions as a result of Russia's war of aggression, while DIANA offers an established pathway connecting innovators with NATO's defence and security expertise and infrastructure. Defence trade outlet Defensehere, reporting the signing independently, said the agreement aims to facilitate joint technology development and testing while helping Ukrainian innovators engage with NATO's defence innovation ecosystem.
Source: Defensehere
The MoU creates the foundations to take collaboration further, helping Ukrainian innovators navigate NATO requirements, explore testing opportunities and tackle barriers to scaling promising technologies, NATO said. For NATO, closer cooperation could broaden the community of innovative suppliers and technologies contributing to the security of the Alliance, while strengthening the industrial base on which collective security depends.
NATO said the signing comes at a time when Allies need both to replenish critical capabilities and build a stronger, more innovative industrial base for the future — DIANA's model is designed to connect promising companies with real defence and security problems and create pathways for technologies to move towards operational capability.