The program targets startups developing solutions that can address both societal challenges and specific defense needs (dual-use). BII selected DTU Science Park’s mentors at the end of 2023 to provide coaching, enabling these startups to start strong.
“When starting a new program, there are plenty of uncertainties, so it was a significant advantage to choose a well-proven and solidly running mentorship program like DeepTech Mentoring, which has received excellent evaluations in connection with other deep tech programs. We couldn’t have done it better ourselves, especially not in our short time,” says Jakob Svagin, Business Developer at Deep Tech Lab Quantum.
The program is well underway, and the 44 selected companies are now in the first of two phases focused on expanding their networks and understanding within civil and military markets. The next phase involves maturing and demonstrating the technologies. Six out of the 44 companies work with quantum technology and are affiliated with the accelerator here in Copenhagen, while the other 38 are affiliated with accelerators in other NATO countries.
Who is Deep Tech Lab – Quantum?
Deep Tech Lab – Quantum (DTL-Q) was inaugurated in September 2023 and operates as an independent unit under the BioInnovation Institute (BII).
DTL-Q drives innovation in quantum technology by supporting startups in their very early stages.
DTL-Q is also part of NATO’s DIANA network and runs programs for quantum startups with so-called dual-use technologies as part of Denmark’s official contribution to NATO.
Read more about Deep Tech Lab and NATO-DIANA
Deep Tech mentors provide challenging and honest coaching
One of the coaching mentors is Bjarne Schøn, Founder of DiTra ApS, with over 20 years of experience in digitization and strategic business development. He has built several startups from scratch and launched them into the international market.
Bjarne already sees the value of the coaching: “I am completely convinced that our coaching can help founders in all strategic and commercial areas and pose challenging and critical questions about everything from the product, service, idea, customer journey, and go-to-market plans.”
Bjarne Schøn is mentoring the startup Secqai, which is developing a secure chip (SOC) based on post-quantum cryptography. Sequai has received coaching on its pitch deck, strategy, go-to-market plans, IP, geopolitical factors, pricing strategy, partnership models, funding, and much more.
They can expect to receive honest, challenging, and insightful input and advice based on real-life experience. All of us mentors have tried many things in our respective careers, which we are happy to share so they can avoid making the same mistakes we have made—or replicate the things we have succeeded in
Bjarne Schøn
Mentor, DeepTech Mentoring
Who is Secqai?
Secqai is developing a solution, Q-Locked, which is immune to memory injection attacks and integrates device-to-device communication with a communication standard that is secure against quantum computers and remains intact upon implementation.
Startups in the NATO DIANA program focus on sensing and surveillance, energy resilience, and secure information sharing. The startups go through two phases of 6 months each, with 44 startups in the first phase and 3-6 startups in the second phase. The program concludes in December 2024. The NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) has invested 1 billion euros in small startups developing these new and disruptive technologies over 15 years. The NIF does not only invest in companies that have gone through the DIANA program.
