Latvia has selected domestic startups for its inaugural national defense pre-acceleration program, DIAL, with each company receiving up to 120,000 euros ($134,774) alongside commercialization support.
Established by the defense agency in cooperation with university accelerator UniLab, the initiative focuses on developing and fielding autonomous systems, detection capabilities, and advanced military technologies under the theme “Autonomy for Superiority.”
Initially planned for up to 10 companies, the program expanded to 12 following more than 30 high-quality applications.
“Technological superiority and the ability to adapt rapidly to emerging threats are becoming increasingly important in modern warfare,” Latvian Defense Minister Raivis Melnis stated.
“Our goal is to build a strong Latvian defense industry capable of meeting the needs of the National Armed Forces and competing in international markets.”
Driving ‘Concrete Action’
Over the next 10 months, the teams will collaborate with international mentors from more than 15 countries and test their solutions directly with the Latvian Armed Forces.
Selected participants include Detexity, Unfazed, Ardlat, Comlab, SUBmerge Baltic, Ascent Lumina, Sphere Tactical, SEQ, NEWT21, Rannon, Capitalg, and Tactical Avionix.
Riga noted that some of these originate from research universities through UniLab’s earlier pre-acceleration pipeline, demonstrating an effective framework for scaling local defense technology into global markets.
Platforms range from passive 360-degree first-person-view drone sensor, high-power microwave counter-drone effector, deployable private 4G/5G network, and artificial intelligence-enabled tactical decision platforms.
“When government institutions, universities, and businesses work together, we can quickly move from policy decisions to concrete action,” UniLab Head Andris Baumanis said.
