The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary, and the University of Alberta in Edmonton, have become two of the handful of North Atlantic Treaty Organization test centres worldwide, as part of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator (DIANA) for the North Atlantic program.

The Government of Canada announced the locations of the test centres, including SAIT’s, located at the Centre for Innovation and Research in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials, on March 15.

The addition of SAIT to the defence technology development program followed a 2022 announcement by the Government of Canada that Halifax would be the home of the NATO DIANA regional office.

“Canada is a hub for defence innovation – and Canadian innovators have a great deal to offer our NATO Allies,” said Canada’s Minister of Defence Bill Blair.

“The integration of our domestic experts with NATO’s DIANA will strengthen our capacity to develop cutting-edge solutions to the security challenges faced by Canada and our NATO Allies.”

SAIT president and CEO Dr. David Ross, said that the announcement was a significant milestone for the post-secondary institution.

“In 2020, SAIT’s Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS) established the Centre for Innovation and Research in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials (CIRAMM), reaffirming our commitment to tackling the industry’s dynamic challenges and driving the shift towards smarter, more sustainable manufacturing and materials systems,” Ross said.

“This announcement marks a significant milestone and stands as a testament to the incredible progress within CIRAMM and the province.”

The focus of the DIANA program is on dual-use technologies that have commercial civilian applications alongside defence industry use.

“Part of DIANA’s strength is our unique transatlantic network of talent centres and innovation leaders working toward a common purpose. The breadth and diversity of partners in DIANA’s network will accelerate the development and deployment of ground-breaking solutions for defence, security and peace,” said Deeph Chana, Managing Director of DIANA.

As part of the program, DIANA issues challenges to industry to solve problems identified by NATO.

Among the challenges already issued by the organization to innovators in the defence space, included energy resilience, undersea sensing and surveillance, and secure information sharing.

NATO has more than 180 test centres across North America and Europe, with 13 located in Canada as of 2024.

Government of Alberta says they played a key role in getting DIANA test centres in province

Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish, speaking at the University of Alberta on March 20, said that the Government of Alberta had been pushing hard for the province to be a part of the DIANA program.

The topic of a NATO presence in Calgary, and efforts to attract a presence to the province was raised by then Minister for Jobs and Economy Brian Jean at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce in 2023.

“We talk a lot about how it’s the future of all the traditional industries that we’re very familiar with in Alberta, like oil and gas, like construction, like real estate, and many other industries—but one that we don’t talk about as much is defence,” said Minister Glubish.

“This has never been more relevant, or more important. The fact is technology is the future of defence and technology is what is going to keep Canadians safe.”

He said that this was a huge opportunity for Albertans to take part in the next generation of research, including in areas like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

“There’s a lot of technologies that dovetail into [civilian and defence uses]. While a military version of that might be a little bit more sophisticated, a little bit more secure, or slightly customized at the end of the day, anything to do with communications protocols and communications technologies is going to have dual applications,” Minister Glubish said.

“Anything in the quantum space is going to have dual applications.”

For more information on NATO DIANA, see www.diana.nato.int.