The defense ministry said Budapest is hosting the meetings of two NATO innovation bodies from Sept 18 to 22 as part of a NATO Innovation Week.
Imre Porkoláb, ministerial commissioner for defense innovation, said Hungary, as a testament to its commitment to NATO, is a founding member of both the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) and the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), which have chosen Budapest as the location of their meetings. Porkoláb, who is also deputy chair of DIANA, said the defense ministry is organising the NATO Innovation Week “on the sidelines” of the DIANA and NIF meetings together with the Defense Innovation Research Institute (VIKI), with Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky as the event’s chief patron. NIF and DIANA are both aimed at adapting advanced technologies developed in the civilian sector by partnering with small and medium-sized businesses, the commissioner said. As part of the Innovation Week, Hungary will present its innovation ecosystem to the other member states, the ministry said.