Preparation before prestige: founders discuss Defence Business Lab and NATO DIANA at Tehnopol

Tehnopol’s dual-use and defence community Coffee Morning on 5 March drew a large, sold-out crowd, largely startup founders, alongside public sector representatives and ecosystem partners. The focus was practical from the start: how to use the defence pre-accelerator Defence Business Lab as a preparatory step, and when a company is truly ready for NATO DIANA.

Enelin Tiiman, Head of Defence Industry Policy at the Ministry of Defence, outlined Estonia’s defence industry priorities and the need for technologies that respond to real operational requirements.

Vootele Päi, Head of Dual-Use and Defence at Tehnopol, brought the conversation to founder level. In defence, maturity becomes visible through testing, validation and real use cases. Understanding this development journey is just as important as technical ambition.

Preparation before acceleration

Kati Kirsipuu, Project Manager at Tehnopol Startup Incubator and Sigrid Mölder, Project Manager at Sparkup Tartu Science Park presented Defence Business Lab as a structured entry point for deep tech teams at TRL 3 and above. The three-month programme combines targeted training, expert consultations and a 5,000 euro grant, helping teams test in real-world environments and sharpen their positioning before applying to larger instruments. In Estonia, the programme is implemented by Tehnopol Startup Incubator and Sparkup Tartu Science Park, funded by the Ministry of Defence.

The founder perspective came from Gerda-Annika Laager, CEO and co-founder of Thistle. Founded in August 2024, Thistle moved from concept to proof of concept testing in Ukraine by March 2025 and entered Defence Business Lab during that early phase. By September 2025, it had secured its first pre-sale contract and 104,000 euros in Ministry of Defence R and D funding.

Applying to NATO DIANA in July 2025 served as a readiness benchmark, clarifying what alliance-level programmes require in terms of maturity, validation and positioning. Later that year, the company secured 815,000 euros in RUP grant funding for applied research. The exchange highlighted a key distinction. Large alliance-level accelerators reward preparation. Entering too early exposes gaps.

From preparation to alliance scale

The Community and Communications Manager at the NATO DIANA Estonian accelerator, Sabina Sägi introduced the accelerator as a scale instrument for mature deep tech teams. Selected companies receive 100,000 euros in contractual funding, with additional funding available for testing, adoption support, in addition to expert mentoring and access to alliance-wide end-user networks. The Estonian accelerator is led by Tehnopol Startup Incubator together with Sparkup Tartu Science Park and funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the City of Tallinn.

The strong turnout reflected a clear shift in founder mindset. The question is no longer whether defence is relevant to startups. It is whether the company is ready to operate in it.

Photos: Tehnopol