Test Centre for Dual-Use Innovation
GATE Institute is Bulgaria’s first accredited NATO Test Centre, empowering innovators to develop technologies that strengthen both civilian resilience and defence capability.
To enable disruptive innovators and investors interested in defence, GATE has also created a next-generation AI instrument – Ally1 – which helps users navigate NATO’s emerging innovation ecosystem. With the help of Ally1, we help not one innovator at a time, but hundreds.
As a national defence innovation hub, GATE offers expertise in various areas, related to defence and civilian resilience:
- Secure data sharing
- Energy resilience
- Sensing and surveillance
- Human health and readiness
- Advanced wearable devices
Building Bridges Between Innovation and Defense
GATE plays a central role in connecting innovators with NATO’s ecosystem, supporting the growth of dual-use technologies that make a real impact
- Bulgaria’s representative to NATO’s AI & Data Review Board.
- Partnerships: CzechInvest, Naval Academy Varna, NATO Allied Command Transformation, NATO Center of Excellence for Crisis Management and Disaster Response
- Collaborations: Tabletop exercises with NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC)
- Creator of Ally1, a next-generation AI platform helping innovators and investors navigate NATO’s growing innovation ecosystem
History timeline
NATO DIANA
NATO DIANA Test Centre with 4 tested and 50+ consulted companies
CMDR CoE
Support to Crisis Management and Disaster Response CoE curriculum on cognition
2023
NATO DARB
Representative of Bulgaria to NATO’s Data and AI Review Board creating standards
2023
NATO NCIA
Part of NATO Communications and Information Agency’s Non-for-profit framework
2024
GMCM PfPC
Research on dual-use, also at George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies
2025
NATO EADRCC
Partner to NATO HQ in high-level demos of technologies for crisis management
2025
Ally1
AI tool to navigate NATO’s innovation ecosystem, tested at Regional Defence Summit
2025
NATO ACT
Host of NATO Allied Command Transformation’s Innovation Continuum
2026
Unlock your dual-use potential – use our next generation AI platform Ally1
Ally1 helps you navigate the growing innovation ecosystem of NATO, the world’s most successful defence alliance
- Expand to new global markets
- Mitigate risk, build credibility
- Sharpen competitive edge
- Get insights of NATO’s innovation agenda
- Assess your dual-use readiness
- Prepare a roadmap to engage with NATO
Our impact
- Representing Bulgaria to NATO’s AI & Data Review Board
- Joining forces with NATO’s EADRCC
- Collaborating with CMDR CoE: Joint tabletop exercises
- Hosting NATO Innovation Continuum
Let’s collaborate
Whether you’re from academia, industry, or public sector, GATE offers unique partnership opportunities in research, infrastructure, and innovation