V letu 2023 je začel delovati Natov pospeševalnik inovacij (angleško Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic – DIANA), katerega osnovni namen je vzpodbujati nastajanje novih tehnologij in zagotavljati ustrezno podporo pri iskanju novih rešitev za kritične obrambne in varnostne izzive.
Glavni cilj je vzpodbujanje k inovativnostim v najširšem mogočem spektru, torej k takim, ki se najpogosteje pojavljajo na komercialnih trgih ter bi lahko bile uporabne tudi za obrambno-varnostne namene, za tako imenovano dvojno rabo.
Junija je bil objavljen razpis za inovatorje, ki bodo že v naslednjem letu začeli delo na idejnih projektih. DIANA se je v letu 2023 osredotočila na tri ključna področja:
- varno delitev informacij (angleško Secure information sharing),
- zaznavanje in nadzor (angleško Sensing and surveillance) in
- energetska odpornost (angleško Energy resilience).
V Sloveniji so bili izbrani štirje laboratoriji v treh testnih centrih, ki so namenjeni za preizkušanje, vrednotenje in potrjevanje novih konceptov ter tehnologij. Trenutno pa DIANA vabi mentorje in strokovnjake, ki bodo svetovali in pomagali inovatorjem, ki so bili izbrani na julijskem razpisu.
Slovenske podjetnike in predstavnike industrije, ustanovitelje start-upov (zagonskih podjetij) in strokovnjake, akademske raziskovalce in investitorje vabimo, da se prijavijo na omenjeno vabilo. Iščejo se (zaradi specifičnosti vabila navajamo opise iskanih vlog v angleškem jeziku):
- Lead Mentor – To serve as the chief mentor for a start-up, providing support with access to tools and resources. The Lead Mentor may not have all the knowledge, tools, or resources needed, but helps founders access them. The Lead Mentor is typically a founder themselves or from an acquisition-focused background and supports one to two start-ups.
- Technology Mentor – To support start-ups developing their particular technologies in a given field of expertise, including test centre access, data validation, troubleshooting, and more. The Technology Mentor is typically someone from academia, industry, government, or a founder themselves and supports a small handful of start-ups.
- Business Expert – To support start-ups ad hoc when needed to support in areas related to their respective fields of expertise, including but not limited to pitch development, finances, management, sales, and more. The Business Expert is typically someone from consulting and supports a large number of start-ups for intermittent periods of time.
- Acquisition Readiness Expert – To support start-ups in understanding various acquisition processes either within industry or government and equip founders with the knowledge and tools to best prepare themselves for partnership or acquisition.
- Subject Lecturer – Serve as a guest speaker for program curriculum, lecture series, events, or other capacities.
- Challenge Evaluator – Subject Matter Experts participating in the evaluation of the Challenges including: Technical experts, operational end users and investors.
- Legal Expert – To provide legal guidance and support to start-ups in understanding various legal challenges and issues.
Na spletni strani se najprej registrirate, nato pa izpolnite vašo prijavo. Vabimo vas tudi k spremljanju novic na LinkedIn profilu DIANA.
Edinstvena priložnost za sodelovanje na mednarodni ravni vam bo prinesla nove izkušnje, predvsem pa znanja. Za mentorje in strokovnjake bodo organizirana posebna izobraževanja, zagotovljena so tudi finančna sredstva za določene stroške, ki jih bodo imeli prijavljeni; honorarji za delo slednjih niso predvideni.
Prijave se zbirajo do srede, 13. decembra 2023 (do 18. ure).