From Parliament to investor pitches: NATO DIANA Estonian Accelerator’s fifth onsite in Estonia

The NATO DIANA Estonian Accelerator 2026 cohort returned to Tallinn for their final Estonian onsite with policy-level discussions, presentation coaching, live demonstrations, Latitude59 and ecosystem meetings making the week fly by.

For the 12 companies, the week opened with a visit to the Estonian Parliament, hosted by Raimond Kaljulaid, Member of Parliament, and Kalev Stoicescu, Member of Parliament and Chairman of the National Defence Committee. For dual-use founders, this kind of access is important. Defence innovation does not move forward only through product development. It also depends on understanding how policy, national priorities, capability needs and institutional decision-making shape the market around them.

To give a little more pep in the step of our innovator’s pitches, each team had a one-to-one stage presence session with coach Dan le Man. While the cohort consists mainly of teams with years of experience, there is always a possibility to pick up new tips on presentation skills, confidence and delivery in a sector where founders often need to explain complex technologies to very different audiences.

Live demonstrations on the Tehnopol campus

The most visible part of the week was Demo Day, held outdoors at the Tehnopol campus and organised together with the Estonian Defence and Aerospace Industry Association. The event brought together 22 companies: the 12 accelerator teams and 10 companies from the Association. It was co-funded by Enterprise Estonia and an official side event of Latitude59.

Instead of a traditional pitch event, the day was designed as a working demonstration format. Each company had its own station, with visitors moving between the technologies in two groups. Using headphones on separate frequencies, both groups could hear the companies explain their solutions in parallel before switching sides. This allowed every company to present twice and reach the full audience, while keeping the format active and focused.

For the teams, this created a different kind of pressure from a stage pitch. They had to explain what they were building clearly, quickly and next to the actual solution, prototype, screen or system. For the audience, it offered a closer view of how the technologies could be applied for defence purposes in a real-life context away from stylised PowerPoint presentations.

Demo Day opened with remarks from representatives of Tehnopol, Sparkup Tartu Science Park, the Estonian Defence and Aerospace Industry Association, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Defence of Estonia, Enterprise Estonia and NATO DIANA. After the demonstrations, the format moved naturally into conversations, contact exchanges and follow-up meetings.

The same day continued with the Defence Tech Meetup organised by the Estonian Founders Society. The meetup brought the cohort into one of the key defence technology gatherings in Estonia during the L59 week, with a strong presence of local and international investors. For the accelerator companies, it was another opportunity to test interest, make new contacts and continue conversations started earlier in the day.

From demonstrations to sharper business cases

The next day, the cohort moved to Latitude59. The companies had time to explore the programme and side events before taking the stage for three-minute pitches, followed by questions from a panel. It was the first time at L59 for all our companies: SkyFi, HIGHTEK, Datambit, Aereus, VIG-SEC DRONE, Unplugged, CulturePulse, EYE2DRIVE, MAPS Messaging, Quantum Quest, Blue Team Intelligence and Datifex, and the audience in Tallinn certainly made them feel welcome.

A panel made sure to grill all the companies on the details not mentioned in their 3 minutes. Thank you Tauri Tuubel, Eva Sula, Tiina Laisi-Puheloinen and Heidi Kakko for your curiosity and questions.

A dual-use company needs more than one type of feedback. A founder may receive a technical question from an end-user, a business model question from an investor, a market-entry question from an ecosystem partner, and a policy-context question from someone working close to national defence priorities. Each of these conversations helps clarify whether the company is only building a capable technology or something that can be adopted to end-users sooner rather than later.

The week closed with a graduation evening, bringing together the teams, mentors, supporters and ecosystem representatives. While the companies still have one more NATO DIANA onsite ahead in Paris in June, this was their last official onsite in Estonia as part of the programme. The gathering marked the end of that Estonian chapter, but not the end of the relationships built here.

We hope to see the teams back in Tallinn for Defence Innovation Day on 21 September, and whenever they are in the region to continue established cooperation with the Estonian ecosystem, follow up on leads or simply say hello.

The NATO DIANA Estonian Accelerator is run by Tehnopol together with Sparkup Tartu Science Park. The accelerator is funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, the Ministry of Defence of Estonia and the City of Tallinn.

Photos: Tehnopol, Raimond Kaljulaid, Eiko Lainjärv