Throughout 2025, the Innovation Continuum has taken participants from NATO entities and Nations, industry, academia and not-for-profits, and their projects to Canada, Portugal and Türkiye to join efforts to improve innovative products in support of warfare development. NCIA has been a central contributor in this year’s themes, which focused on Multi-Domain Operations and Digital Transformation, powered by Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDTs).
During SHINE, NCIA developed and showcased the applicability of EDTs for military contexts, in space technologies, quantum and hypersonics. NCIA experts were also instrumental in facilitating the contributions of other participants, building and maintaining the experimentation environment to deploy 5G, cloud, edge computing and cybersecurity.
“A key focus area at SHINE was validating core components of the Cyber Resilience by Design concept: cryptographic agility, AI-enhanced cyber defence, and quantum-safe data-centric security,” said Joanna Sliwa, Senior Scientist at the NATO Cyber Security Centre. “The experiments at SHINE paved the way for Allies to continue adapting to EDTs used by adversaries, maintaining cyber resilience and the technological edge needed for collective defence and deterrence.”
NCIA also further strengthened its partnership with the NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), by involving and collaborating with six innovators across cyber resilience, quantum, and 5G technologies during SHINE.
The Innovation Continuum, now in its second year, has matured into an important hub of NATO’s innovation ecosystem, bringing emerging and disruptive technological advancements to bear on concrete operational solutions.
“The Innovation Continuum and SHINE show how NATO accelerates the journey from ideas to impact, fostering collaboration, experimentation, and rapid testing of emerging technologies,” said Supreme Allied Commander Transformation’s Representative in Europe, Major General Adrian Ciolponea. “The next important step is ensuring that the concepts and capabilities developed through this process reach those who need them most, the warfighters who rely on innovation to stay ahead on the battlefield.”