News Military
Ottawa announces 15 Canadian participants in NATO defence innovation hub in Halifax

The federal government has announced 15 Canadian participants in a new defence innovation hub in Halifax for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, known as DIANA, was announced in November 2022 and is scheduled to open this summer in downtown Halifax at an initial cost of $26.6 million over six years.

Its goal is to promote co-operation between NATO’s military members and the technology sector, including tech startups and academic researchers.

Communitech of Waterloo, Ont., and the ocean research hub COVE in Dartmouth, N.S., were announced as so-called accelerators that will deliver programming to companies who participate.

The Defence Department also announced 13 test centres that include universities and research centres from across the country that will take part in the NATO hub network.

Officials have said the focus is not on building weapons but on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big-data processing and biotechnology.

In a news release Friday, Defence Minister Bill Blair said Canada’s research sector has a “great deal to offer our NATO allies.”

“The integration of our domestic experts with NATO’s DIANA will strengthen our capacity to develop cutting-edge solutions to the security challenges faced by Canada and our NATO allies,” Blair said.

NATO’s overall program is to be co-ordinated out of the Halifax office and an office in London. To date, the program has named 23 accelerators and 182 test sites in 28 NATO member nations.

—

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2024.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc., 2023