Where Cyber Meets the Edge
Estonia already hosts The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, an interdisciplinary institution of expertise in cyber defense research, training and exercises covering technology, strategy, operations and law.
With this in mind, and the country’s experience defending against attacks from Russia and nonstate adversaries, the nation occupies a vantage position in this field. Therefore, Tallinn, the country’s capital, hosts a DIANA regional center, and the territory also hosts other facilities linked to this initiative.
“DIANA is an acceleration network, and we have the test-center networks that combine together approximately 100 different centers all over the alliance,” explained Kadri Tammai, country head of DIANA.
Tammai explained that she also leads other national technology accelerator initiatives with the potential to combine them with this specific NATO scheme.
“DIANA is an innovation-financing instrument,” said Stig Rogenbaum, business development head for defense and technology businesses in the Estonian Investment Agency.
Given that the initiative accepts multiple sources of funds, the country looks toward leveraging its experience to bring its cyber technologies to center stage in NATO.
The country’s innovation and startup ecosystem has its sights on the private sector.
“The lower hanging fruits are on the civilian sector because their implementation will happen much quicker—for the reason that, for example, procurement laws in the defense sector take more time than on the fully commercial side,” Tammai told SIGNAL Media in an interview.
The ecosystem aspires to host the best and most attractive projects beyond its borders.
“We are not definitely only meant for Estonian startups, not only for startups coming from this region,” Tammai explained. Different business agencies in the country share resources to host a business-friendly environment, including, for example, immigration compliance for foreign entrepreneurs.
For those who wish to start a venture in the country, entrepreneur visas allow a stay of 18 months, which can be extended to a five-year residence permit. Still, the program is selective, around 60% of applicants have been rejected, according to Invest in Estonia.
Among business initiatives, Estonia sees it has an edge in technologies that are currently being battle-tested.
“There is so much going in the drones field,” Tammai said. “Basically, autonomous systems on air, on the ground, on the water, and it’s cool to see not only how the technologies are developed but how they are actually used, for example, to help Ukraine as well.”
