NATO Selects Ten Companies for Decision Challenge

NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), working with Allied Command Operations (ACO), has selected 10 companies to advance capabilities through its Decision Superiority for NATO Warfighters Challenge: Matrix Pro Sims, Hadean, Watchtower Labs, Flai, Grist Mill Exchange, Decent Cybersecurity, ETE Technology, Onebrief, Picogrid, and Levato AS.

NATO's Maven Smart System NATO (MSS NATO) serves as a foundation for the challenge. The innovators will develop AI, machine learning, and software solutions to enhance NATO's operational planning, integrated into a cloud-based environment aligned to real-world use cases.

"We are super excited about this DIANA Challenge. For the first time, we are partnering the operational community and our warfighters directly with DIANA and the tech companies to iterate and innovate together," said Col. Arnel David, Director, Task Force Maven, NATO SHAPE. "The NATO Maven Smart System as an open and extensible platform is built to handle this speed of integration and interoperability. This is how NATO wins the innovation race: we prototype fast, we test with the people who fight, and we scale what works."

MSS NATO brings together data from multiple sources to improve situational awareness, targeting, and operational planning.

"Through this challenge, we are accelerating the integration of cutting-edge technologies into NATO's operational environment, enabling our forces to make faster, more informed decisions in increasingly complex scenarios," said Jyoti Hirani-Driver, Acting Managing Director of NATO DIANA.

Each company will receive €100,000 in funding, culminating in a demonstration phase by December 2026, assessed by relevant NATO commands.