site.btaMinistry of Innovation and Growth Submits Sofia Tech Park’s Application for NATO’s DIANA Accelerator

The Ministry of Innovation and Growth has officially submitted the application of Sofia Tech Park for an accelerator in the DIANA network (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic), NATO’s initiative for accelerating defence innovation, the Ministry’s press centre announced Thursday.

This will create new opportunities for Bulgarian scientists, innovators, and companies in the sector. It will also help startups in Bulgaria to become part of a deep-tech development network, which in turn will open up new markets.

Bulgaria already has four test centres under NATO’s initiative, and the addition of an accelerator will complete the ecosystem, the Ministry said, outlining some of the benefits for Bulgarian business, investors, science, and society.

Benefits for Bulgarian business

The private sector will gain access to free services and high-tech laboratories for testing, as well as a shorter path to new markets in the security and defence sector through product validation in a NATO-accredited test centre.

Benefits for Bulgarian investors

For investors, the change will lead to the identification of new promising companies for investment across various fields such as data exchange and cybersecurity, energy, surveillance systems, human health, and wearable intelligent systems.

Benefits for society

Bulgarian citizens will benefit from potential technologies to improve resilience in crises and emergencies such as fewer power outages thanks to microgrids, better communication during storms; and VR training that prepares volunteers for disaster management. Positive impacts are also expected in digital healthcare, including technologies such as drones delivering medicines to sparsely populated areas and telemedicine enabling emergency consultations in mountainous regions.

Benefits for Bulgarian science

These include access to new empirical data gathered from testing to increase the validity of scientific research, implementation of joint projects with Bulgarian innovative companies under various NATO programmes and EU initiatives, and connections with prestigious institutes and universities within the DIANA network.

In 2025, the Council of Ministers established a Defense Innovation Center as a unit within Sofia Tech Park. Its goals and activities include supporting Bulgaria’s strategic independence through research and innovation in dual-use technologies, planning, coordinating, and conducting scientific research; stimulating technological development and the implementation of innovative dual-use solutions; promoting national and international cooperation in the field of security and defence, participating in military-technical cooperation projects, maintaining high standards in line with NATO and European Union requirements; and achieving sustainable progress in dual-use technologies and improving the country’s competitiveness.

The defence and dual-use technology sector is also one of the four pillars in Bulgaria’s new ten-year strategy under the European JEREMIE initiative.