NATO DIANA debuts second dual-use cohort to UK ecosystem at London launch event
Official press release
5 February 2026
Eight innovators commence mission to bolster NATO’s resilience in Contested Electromagnetic Environments
LONDON (5 February 2026): Janus Allies (Janus), the UK Accelerator for NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), in partnership with UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), has welcomed a new cohort of innovators.
In 2025 NATO DIANA received a record-breaking 3,680 submissions, this latest NATO DIANA cohort emerged from a highly selective process, placing them in roughly the top 4% of applicants and among the most competitive dual-use innovators in the Alliance.
The launch event for the 2026 NATO DIANA Cohort was hosted at the Churchill War Rooms, highlighting the link between historic resilience and today’s defence innovation realities.
At the event, Lieutenant General Sir Ralph Wooddisse, KCB, CBE, MC, Commander of the NATO Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), spoke about the innovation and adaptation needed for the warfighter. The evening then continued with remarks on building global advantage through collaboration, exports, and innovation, before concluding with John Cunningham, Director of Defence Innovation at the Ministry of Defence, on accelerating capabilities to the front lines.
“Throughout my time in the Royal Air Force, I was a direct beneficiary of some of the UK’s most cutting-edge technologies, witnessing first-hand the transformative power of collaboration between technologists, academics, defence industry personnel and policymakers. The purpose of UK Defence Innovation is to place innovative solutions into the hands of the warfighter at speed and the pace at which innovation must be developed and deployed into capability is only accelerating. The opportunity for rapid improvement lies in strategically exploiting commercial technologies through a unified public-private sector approach. The NATO DIANA challenge, UKDI and UK Accelerator embody this shift, adopting a ‘fail fast’ startup mentality to test emerging capabilities at pace. The NATO DIANA programme has already generated incredible successes within the dual-use defence sector, sending a clear message of innovation, strength and agility.”
This year, Janus, the UK Accelerator is uniquely focused on solutions for Contested Electromagnetic Environments, one of the ten priority areas defined by NATO DIANA. The electromagnetic spectrum serves as an invisible frontline for adversaries to disrupt communication channels and mask emerging threats, and, in turn, represents an all-important battle for information control.
Commencing a six-month programme to rapidly integrate their technologies into the UK dual-use sector, and with talent from seven different nations across the NATO alliance, the innovators are:
- Slipstream Design, United Kingdom – SME delivering secure, reconfigurable digital-RF sensing and communications for contested electromagnetic environments.
- CX2 Inc., United States of America– delivering spectrum dominance to the battlefield by providing AI-enabled hardware and software that characterises, disrupts and defends the electromagnetic domain in contested environments.
- FOSSA Systems, Spain– delivering sovereign, multi-mission LEO satellite constellations that combine secure low-power SatCom (IoT/D2D) with space-based signals intelligence (SIGINT).
- LSMedical, Estonia– a deep-tech materials science company founded to solve one of the most critical strategic vulnerabilities facing NATO and its allies: the dependence on rare earth permanent magnets.
- Oledcomm, France– a deep-tech pioneer and a global leader in optical wireless communications, specialising in Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) technology.
- SDQ Solutions Canada– future-proofing the next generation of global navigation: Quantum-Resistant Anti-Spoofing Solution for Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing.
- Tern AI Inc, USA – Independently Derived Positioning System (IDPS™) provides assured, live vehicle positioning in contested and degraded environments operating without GNSS, satellites, signals, infrastructure or spectrum.
- Testnor AS, Norway– developing a modular, dual-use platform designed to validate advanced technologies in GNSS-denied, electromagnetically contested, and extreme conditions.
“Overcoming modern adversaries demands the right technological capabilities being deployed by the right people at the right time. By aligning mission with margin, the NATO DIANA accelerator ensures that startups don’t just innovate, but scale to help us gain a competitive advantage. The programme created by NATO DIANA supports the Government’s Strategic Defence Review, with a focus on accelerating innovation, enabling faster access than traditional procurement strategies and strengthening industrial defence capabilities. At Janus, we are committed to bridging the gap between innovation and deployment, ensuring that technologies are battlefield-ready to protect our allies.”
NATO DIANA has been running accelerators across Allied nations for three years, with the UK Accelerator, delivered by Janus on behalf of UDKI, launching two years ago. The fist cohort, launched in 2025, is already making headlines across the ecosystem:
- Slovakia-founded RV Magnetics, which specialises in developing and manufacturing the world’s smallest passive sensors. A year on from joining the UK Accelerator, RV Magnetics has now successfully tested its flagship ‘Microwire’ technology at the National Physics Laboratory and has already secured strategic defence contracts.
- AI Verse has secured €5 million in new fundingto scale its synthetic data platform for high‑performance computer vision. The round was led by Supernova Invest, with participation from CAIT, Amundi AAI4, Creazur and returning investors Innovacom and Bpifrance Digital Venture.
“This milestone is a strong signal of confidence in our technology and our team. It also builds on the momentum we’ve gained through programmes like NATO DIANA, which have helped accelerate our growth and refine our approach to defence partners. Grateful to all our investors and collaborators for believing in what we’re building.”
The 2026 cohort will follow the same path of real‑life deployment, testing exercises and supply‑chain integration to accelerate technology adoption across the dual‑use ecosystem and, ultimately, across NATO. In this way, the UK Accelerator delivered by Janus, on behalf of NATO DIANA and in collaboration with UKDI, is helping to support NATO’s innovation and technology strategy and the UK’s defence innovation goals.
“We have a collective responsibility to strengthen our Armed Forces, defend our nations, and protect our people - that is our purpose. At NATO DIANA, we exist to turn innovation into impact, connecting government, industry and cutting-edge innovators to deliver the capabilities our warfighters need to protect themselves and others. When these partnerships work well, the results are exceptional. As we launch the 2026 programme, we are focused on accelerating those collaborations and ensuring the most promising technologies reach the front line faster.”
This work is only possible because of the NATO DIANA team, who lead the end‑to‑end process of selecting and supporting innovators across the Alliance. Their accelerator, communications, events, challenge and project teams and managers work continuously across the regions to find the companies uniquely qualified to join the programme, before dispersing them across the 16 accelerator sites. Their efforts ensure every accelerator site across the 16strong network is powered by the kind of innovation that truly moves defence forward – bringing forward technologies that strengthen protection, enhance interoperability and advance the next generation of defence and dual-use innovation.
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About NATO DIANA
NATO DIANA finds and accelerates cutting-edge technologies to deliver battle-winning defence and security solutions for the Alliance, while fostering deep-tech innovation. As a cornerstone of NATO’s innovation and technology strategy, DIANA brings together world-class talent and the latest advancements to maintain the Alliance’s technological edge. Leveraging a network of leading accelerator sites, test centres, expert mentors, and Allied expertise across 32 nations, DIANA empowers innovators working at the intersection of defence readiness, commercial potential, and technological breakthroughs.
About Janus
Named after the Roman god of duality to reflect its approach to support dual-use applications, the Janus consortium is a four-partner, delivery-ready consortium with skills and expertise across business support and growth, science and technology, defence and security and deeptech investment.
Led by UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), Janus is a consortium in partnership with IoT Tribe, a specialist deeptech accelerator ecosystem; Atmos Ventures, a trans-Atlantic deeptech and defence investor; and the SETsquared Partnership, a dynamic collaboration between six leading research-led UK universities.
We aim to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of NATO’s defence industrial base and expand the range of innovative capabilities available for acquisition and deployment by civilian, defence and security customers in the UK and internationally by strengthening the pipeline of talent and new, innovative companies operating in the defence and security markets.
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