AGH University of Science and Technology
AGH University of Science and Technology
01/23/2026 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/23/2026 07:04
Launch of the Polish NATO DIANA accelerator
Seven US and European companies have come to Poland to perfect their defence technologies as part of the NATO DIANA acceleration programme. The international initiative of the alliance supports the development of dual-use innovation created with military and civil use in mind. In Poland it is operated by FORT Kraków, a joint venture of the Krakow Technology Park (KPT) and the AGH University of Krakow. The official launch of the acceleration programme combined with the opening of FORT Kraków took place on 22 January 2026 attended by representatives of NATO, public administration, and tech environment.
"Poland is the leader of military transformation in Europe. The 2026 budget amounts to 200 billion zlotys. When the war in Ukraine began, it was merely 60 billion. Poland has woken Europe up to spend more. The centre we are opening today, the Fort Kraków DIANA accelerator, is the best example that NATO is strengthening its eastern flank, it wants to build independence in equipment supplies and quickly implement modern technologies," said Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, deputy prime minister and minister of national defence, during his inaugural speech.
As decided by NATO, Poland is the only country in the eastern flank to have become home to a DIANA accelerator, ten test centres, and a NATO Innovation Fund office. The strategic recognition of our country emphasises its role in the development of technology innovation for NATO's security and defence.
"The launch of a NATO DIANA accelerator in Krakow only confirms that the Polish science and innovation ecosystem has reached maturity, allowing us to co-create solutions vital to the security of the entire alliance. As a technological university with strong deep-tech abilities, AGH University takes responsibility not only for the development of technologies but also for their applications, starting in laboratories, through testing, to implementations, in cooperation with industry and the military user. FORT Kraków shows how science and business can intertwine and act together for the defence of the country and NATO," highlighted Professor Jerzy Lis, AGH University rector, speaking to the audience.
DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) is a NATO organisation supported by accelerators and test centres located in member countries, aiming to promote the development of technologies important for NATO's security and defence. It connects technology innovators with representatives of military institutions, test facilities, and defence, industrial, and academic mentors.
Seven start-ups, six months
The project implemented by FORT Kraków features seven start-ups from the USA and Europe, thoroughly selected by NATO, that are developing dual-use deep tech. In the coming six months, the teams will take advantage of mentoring programmes, experts facilities, and testing infrastructure, developing their technical and business competencies necessary at all stages of product and service development, from research and design, through validation, to implementation and scaling.
In the Polish DIANA accelerator, the innovators will develop technologies that are key to the modern battlefield, including autonomous solutions supporting, including the detection and countering of unmanned aerial systems (Swedish AegisX), autonomous navigation and mission planning for vehicles operating in environments without GPS signal (Greek start-up Alpha Autonomy), identification and tracking of drones using acoustic and radio sensors (British Arcani Systems), autonomous piloting for unmanned systems, designed to operate in conditions of GPS signal loss and electronic warfare interference (Danish Robotto), integrated defence systems against drone swarms, platforms integrating various sensors, and solutions supporting object identification in noisy environments (US companies: mara, Picogrid and Wave Sciences).
"Innovators who work within the Krakow acceleration programme develop solutions that respond to very specific needs, from enhancing the safety of military operations and supporting soldiers on the front line to protecting critical infrastructure. Our role as the NATO DIANA supervisor in Poland is to create conditions for testing these technologies in practice, verifying them, and preparing for further development in close cooperation with international partners and potential users," says Bartosz Józefowski, department deputy director in the Krakow Technology Park.
Polish success in NATO DIANA
Although the defence innovation accelerator began operation in Poland only this year, the programme itself has been operating and supporting the development of technological companies within NATO member countries for a few years now. Previous editions, held in accelerators outside our country, also saw Polish entities, and today they are successfully developing and scaling their technologies across borders.
Some of the Polish alums of NATO DIANA are IS-Wireless, Blue Armada Robotics, and Revobeam, authors of intelligent antennas for wireless communication systems.
"NATO DIANA is a programme that opens doors to the military market. The acceleration process enabled us to quickly understand the processes in this area and establish contacts that would otherwise take years to develop. If it weren't for NATO DIANA, we wouldn't be in talks with a dozen leading military companies, we wouldn't also have our antennas and antidrone system on several continents," says Mateusz Rzymowski, Revobeam's CEO.
The present examples show that participation in NATO DIANA translates into the development and commercialisation of advanced technologies. More Polish companies are also part of the 2026 NATO DIANA Cohort participating in acceleration programmes implemented by other centres.
"The Polish centre is one of 16 accelerators in the network created since 2022. Its launch not only strengthens international cooperation on NATO's eastern flank in the development and adoption of modern technologies for defence purposes, but above all changes our country's role in the alliance's innovation ecosystem: having started as a participant, we are now becoming a host, a guardian of innovators and their relations with the test centres associated in the network. It will be a valuable lesson on how to build a dual-use innovation ecosystem in Poland and develop Polish companies in the important field even more intensively," summarises Izabela Albrycht, rector's proxy for NATO DIANA at AGH University.
FORT Kraków (Future-Oriented Research & Technologies) is a modern defence innovation and dual-use tech incubator and accelerator established by the Krakow Technology Park and AGH University. Being the sole operator of NATO DIANA in Poland, FORT Kraków combines the potential of science, industry, military, and public administration. The entity also serves as a coordinator of ten Polish research centres participating in NATO DIANA as test centres. The operation of FORT Kraków is financed from the state budget under a programme that fosters competencies in dual-use innovation of the Minister of Finance and Economy with the aim of identifying the operator of the acceleration programme "DUET - Dual-Use Emerging Technologies".
The Krakow Technology Park has been fostering entrepreneurship for more than 25 years. It implements an acceleration programme called KPT ScaleUP, has a technological incubator for beginners in IT, and supports and inspires the start-up community by organising a series of events, helping verify business ideas, including workshops, hackathons, and conferences. Industry 4.0 and gaming have a particular place in KPT. The institution is the leader of hub4industry, a consortium aimed at providing comprehensive support to companies wishing to implement Industry 4.0 solutions. KPT hosts Digital Dragons, a key conference in the European gaming industry. It also cooperates with international organisations such as EIT Digital whose objective is to drive digital transformation in Europe.
AGH University of Science and Technology published this content on January 23, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on January 23, 2026 at 13:04 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]