The NATO DIANA Board of Directors approved at its meeting on June 3 in Madrid, Spain, the proposal to include five new Romania-based DIANA Testing Centres in next year’s budget, the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics – ICI Bucharest announced in a release.

The initiative, also supported by ICI Bucharest, is part of Romania’s effort to expand national participation in the DIANA (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) network and to better connect Romanian research and testing infrastructures to NATO initiatives dedicated to dual-use technologies.

At the same meeting, Romania also advanced the proposal for a nationally affiliated DIANA Accelerator, to be hosted by the Politehnica University of Bucharest. The formal onboarding process for Romania’s DIANA Accelerator will begin soon, in line with Diana’s new affiliation framework.

ICI Bucharest welcomed the decision and said it would continue to support the development of national research, testing and innovation infrastructures relevant to emerging and dual-use technologies.

“The approval of the proposal to include five new DIANA Testing Centres in Romania in next year’s budget is an important result for our country. For ICI Bucharest, it is essential that expertise in research, technology and cybersecurity can be connected to NATO initiatives dedicated to innovation and dual-use technologies,” said ICI Bucharest Director General Adrian-Victor Vevera.

The five proposed Testing Centres would expand Diana’s capacity to assess, validate and accelerate technologies with civilian and defence applications. Their inclusion in next year’s budget marks a key step in advancing the administrative and operational process, the institute noted.

NATO DIANA is the Alliance’s program designed to identify and support startups and innovators developing civilian technologies with potential defence applications. The initiative links researchers to a broad network of testing centres and accelerators across member states.