Williams Discusses NATO’s DIANA Initiative with DefenseScoop

January 27, 2023

DefenseScoop

Michael J. Williams

International Relations, Executive, M.A.

International Relations, M.A.

Canada

Defense & Security

Europe

International Agreements

United States

DefenseScoop

Michael J. Williams

NATO's new Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North-Atlantic (DIANA) initiative marks a broad effort to speed up the alliance’s adoption of emerging and disruptive technologies by strategically strengthening technical cooperation between the member nations—and with commercial startups and other non-governmental organizations—through a novel network of research hubs and test centers across Europe and North America.

An early challenge for the new board of DIANA, according to Michael Williams, associate professor of public administration and international affairs, will likely involve puzzling out and reconciling the varying technological demands of the 30 independent countries that make up NATO, as well as their many military components, which are also having to adapt to what’s happening in the Ukraine-Russia war.

“When we look at NATO, now, there’s very different priorities,” Williams says. “And they’re all pretty valid—but it also depends on where you sit.”

“So it’s going to be sort of reconciling what all the nation-states think are their main priorities with what the alliance [military components consider their] priorities,” and where startups and other partners can support those needs, Williams says, adding “it’s going to be a lot of coordination and deconfliction.”

Read more in the DefenseScoop article, “Tech leader leaving Pentagon role to chair new NATO innovation accelerator.”