Vilnius University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) established by NATO. VU LSC will act as a technology testing, assessment, verification, and validation center and provide services to the accelerator’s start-ups in the field of life sciences.
“VU is open to new ideas, people, and collaboration opportunities. The establishment of the DIANA testing center at VU indicates the relevance of our research and openness to partnerships with new innovative companies from all NATO countries. Nowadays, the university is more than just a research and study institution. It has sufficient capacity to suggest R&D solutions to the market and accelerate high-tech businesses. We hope that start-up companies when participating in NATO innovation acceleration activities, will take advantage of such collaboration opportunities with our researchers and develop R&D-based solutions that contribute to the progress of society,“ says Vice-Rector of VU Prof. Edita Sužiedėlienė.
DIANA seeks to unite the best and brightest innovators across the NATO alliance to ensure the protection of one billion citizens. To sharpen NATO’s technological edge, Allied nations are working together with the private sector to adopt and integrate new technologies and shape standards.
Start-ups accepted into the DIANA accelerator program gain access to 90+ test centers across the Alliance, and VU among them, where entrepreneurs can de-risk and demonstrate and validate their proposed dual-use technological solutions.
Prof. Daumantas Matulis, Director of VU Life Sciences Center, is proud that the equipment and services available at the center will contribute to the development of new technologies: “We are proud that the competencies of our scientists and the capacity of our laboratories will enable a faster and higher quality of the development of R&D solutions. We hope that our test center will be used by the start-up companies and entrepreneurial teams developing solutions in the fields of biotechnology, environmental engineering and novel materials.”
Among other technology areas, DIANA will focus on big data, artificial intelligence, autonomy, quantum, biotechnologies and human enhancement, energy and propulsion, novel materials and advanced manufacturing and space – specifically where they are dual-use (civilian and defence) and deep tech in nature, and where they can be used to solve challenging defence and security problems.
“DIANA partners with leading innovation centres across the Alliance to support our accelerator programme,“ says DIANA’s Managing Director, Professor Deeph Chana. “I’m delighted that VU has joined the DIANA network of world-class test centres, and I am excited to see what we can achieve together in the coming years.”
More information about DIANA: https://www.diana.nato.int/about-diana.html