By Jennifer Kervin
DIGITAL JOURNAL
December 11, 2025
Photo by Benoît Deschasaux for Unsplash+
Canada’s innovation economy just earned a new global nod.
Edmonton-based Grengine has been chosen for NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) 2026 Challenge Programme. The clean energy company is part of the alliance’s largest-ever cohort of 150 innovators selected across ten challenge areas, including Energy and Power.
The accelerator connects deep-tech ventures with military end-users, mentors, and investors to fast-track solutions for the world’s most complex defence and security challenges. For Grengine, it’s a chance to show how a made-in-Canada technology can help solve a global problem: how to make energy systems both secure and sustainable.
“Being selected for DIANA — the world’s most competitive deep-tech accelerator — is an incredible honour,” says Connie Stacey, founder and CEO of Grengine. “This recognition from NATO validates the strategic importance of cyber-secure, resilient energy systems and affirms the global relevance of what we’re building at Grengine. For us, this is more than a milestone — it’s a mandate to help power and protect the systems that protect us. We’re proud to represent Canadian innovation on the world stage.”
The announcement comes almost a year after Grengine was part of a $6.7 million federal investment to boost business growth in Edmonton through PrairiesCan’s Business Scale-up and Productivity program.
Energy innovation meets security imperatives
Starting in January 2026, Grengine will receive contractual funding and access to DIANA’s network of accelerator sites and more than 200 test centres across NATO nations. Each company in the cohort will receive initial grant funding to advance solutions that can serve both defence and civilian markets.
Grengine will use the opportunity to further develop its modular, plug-and-play battery energy storage systems, technology built and manufactured in Alberta, to replace diesel generation, support renewable integration, and bring reliable green power anywhere.
James Appathurai, Interim Managing Director of NATO DIANA, says the accelerator’s mission is about turning innovation into action.
“DIANA’s mission is to find the most innovative companies, help them advance their solutions and grow their business, and get the technologies we need into the hands of NATO operators,” he says. “Over the next year, these innovators will accelerate breakthrough technologies that can help to transform how the Alliance defends against current and emerging threats.”
For Grengine, being aligned with DIANA’s Energy and Power challenge area reinforces how closely clean-energy innovation now ties to global resilience. The same systems that keep communities running after storms or grid failures can also power defence operations in austere or cyber-threatened environments.
From local innovation to global testbed
Grengine, formerly known as Growing Greener Innovations, has long framed energy access as a social issue as much as a technical one. Its mission to eliminate energy poverty and deliver ethical, sustainable power solutions now sits squarely inside NATO’s push to strengthen resilience across member nations.
Participation in DIANA will open doors to testing and validation sites across Europe and North America, along with mentorship from military and commercial experts. It marks another example of how NATO is engaging civilian innovators to solve defence-related challenges, signalling new opportunities for Canadian clean-tech firms positioned at the intersection of energy, cybersecurity, and infrastructure.
When clean energy becomes national security
Grengine’s selection highlights a growing shift in how innovation is defined.
Clean-energy technologies are no longer seen solely through the lens of climate goals. They’re increasingly part of national security strategy, and Canada’s innovators are helping shape that conversation.
By placing a Canadian company in NATO’s largest deep-tech accelerator cohort, DIANA underscores that the path to resilience runs through collaboration between civilian and defence sectors.
The challenge now is ensuring those breakthroughs don’t stop at validation, but scale into the systems that nations rely on.
Final shotsEnergy resilience is fast becoming a security priority.
Dual-use innovation is blurring the line between clean-tech and defence.
Canada’s global competitiveness will depend on how well it connects its innovators to these emerging systems of collaboration.
Written ByJennifer Kervin
Jennifer Kervin is a Digital Journal staff writer and editor based in Toronto.
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