According to the Ministry of Defense, NATO’s DIANA innovation programme is establishing new locations in Hungary. The aim of the initiative is to use innovations from the military sector for the civilian and defence sectors. Hungary is joining the programme to promote R&D cooperation within the alliance and is setting up an innovation center and several test centers for this purpose.
The first DIANA innovation center will be operated as part of the partnership between the Defense Innovation and Research Institute of Hungary (VIKI) and Nokia Solutions and Networks Kft. under the name VIKI-NOKIA. Another six test centers will be established by the University of Pécs, Óbuda University, BHE Bonn Hungary Electronics Kft, Alverad Technology Focus Kft, ITSec Area Kft and Nokia Bell Labs.
The accreditation of these centers strengthens Hungary’s role within NATO. Two local test centers, the ZalaZONE test track and the neighbouring research and technology center, were already included in the NATO network in 2023.