NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană visited the European headquarters of NATO’s new innovation initiative at Imperial College London on Friday (29 April 2022). The United Kingdom, in partnership with Estonia, will host this regional office for NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic – or DIANA. DIANA will bring together academia, private sector and governments to design cutting-edge solutions for defence and security challenges. The London headquarters will coordinate DIANA’s European innovation activities and work together with dozens of test centres and accelerator sites.
The Deputy Secretary General met with the Co-Director of Imperial’s Institute for Security Science and Technology, Professor Deeph Chana, as well as staff from the UK and Estonian Defence Ministries to discuss progress on DIANA.
As part of his visit to London, the Deputy Secretary General met with Minister of State for Europe and North America James Cleverly, National Security Adviser Stephen Lovegrove, Minister of State for Defence Procurement Jeremy Quin and senior officials on Thursday (28 April 2022). He praised the UK’s strong contributions to NATO and continuing support to Ukraine. The Deputy Secretary General also met with the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Houses of Parliament and the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. He discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine and Allies’ work to provide Ukraine with further military, economic, and humanitarian aid.