David van Weel, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, visited Turin and met with General Luciano Portolano, Secretary General of Defence and National Armaments Director, the President of the Piedmont Region Alberto Cirio, the Mayor of Turin Stefano Lo Russo, the Deputy Mayor Michela Favaro and theRegional Councillor for Productive Activities Andrea Tronzano.
The meeting held at the headquarters of the Piedmont Region is part of the evaluation process of the proposal to host in Turin both the headquarters of an innovation accelerator in the field of Defense and the European office of DIANA, the future structure of the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic. The national and local institutions illustrated the opportunities that the territory and the ecosystem of local innovative entreprises offer for this establishment. In fact, the proposal foresees the insertion of the Regional Office within the nascent City of Aerospace, where it could be located and operate alongside Alenia Thales and Leonardo, the laboratories and workspaces for startups already present, theESA BIC Turin of I3P and the European Space Agency. While waiting for the completion of the City of Aerospace would be given immediate availability of workspace within OGR Tech.
The center will be responsible for the creation of a network of testing centers and innovation accelerators to support the innovation of NATO and its allied countries. The startups involved will be supported in the development of technologies useful to preserve technological superiority and to facilitate cooperation between the private sector and the military. This support will be made even more concrete by the nascent Aerospace & Advanced Hardware accelerator project. The initiative will also be supported by the creation of a venture capital fund, the NATO Innovation Fund, which will provide funding to startups included in the involved business accelerators.