Wazoku partners with NATO DIANA accelerator

Wazoku has officially partnered with NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) to support the accelerator’s day-today operations.

DIANA’s mission is to locate and accelerate dual-use innovation across the Alliance. It provides technology developers with the resources, networks and expertise to address critical defence and security challenges for NATO countries.

In January, 44 companies began DIANA’s first accelerator ‘bootcamp’. The 44 were chosen from over 1,300 applicants to develop their technologies and tackle specific challenges on energy resilience, undersea sensing and surveillance, and secure information sharing. Companies that made it into the accelerator programme received a grant of 100,000 euros; those selected for a second 6-month phase will receive up to an additional 300,000 euros. 

Wazoku provided a platform to host and manage DIANA’s engagement with its stakeholders, allowing for feedback collection and the launch of a 'call for mentors and experts’.

"We have a proven track record working with defence organisations, with our access rights and security functionality particularly suited to such customers,” said Simon Hill, CEO of Wazoku. “A central platform enables a more collaborative environment and makes the entire process easier to manage and monitor progress."

Wazoku works with enterprises including NASA, Enel, MoD and many more to help them innovate at scale. It offers four key products: Wazoku Crowd, the world’s most powerful and successful open innovation community; Wazoku Portal, which allows users to manage all their global innovation partners centrally; Wazoku Scout, which offers instant connection with start-ups or the chance to search deeper to find the required technologies, partners or expertise; and Wazoku Platform.

The Wazoku Platform is a flexible and intuitive tool that NATO DIANA has used to collaborate with stakeholders to submit and record feedback, post updates, develop and evaluate them.