DIANA: how to separate accelerator funding, testing and a future order

DIANA’s June 2026 challenge Q&A describes its €100,000 award as contractual funding with programme deliverables. Innovators must report progress and how they used the money. The same document says DIANA takes neither equity nor ownership of their intellectual property.

Its support FAQ describes access to testing, mentoring and feedback from end users. The initial funding also covers mandatory travel. These are useful forms of support, but a company still needs to plan the people and expenditure required to use them.

This explainer concerns the programme’s structure. It is not an announcement that a challenge is currently open, and applicants should check the current call and their contract before making commitments.

Build a programme budget and a sales forecast separately

Our assessment is that founders should maintain two distinct plans. The programme budget records the work and resources needed to fulfil the accelerator contract. The sales forecast records prospective customers, their decision processes and the evidence needed before an order can be considered likely.

A payment supporting development is not interchangeable with revenue from selling the finished product to an operational customer. The distinction matters when explaining runway, margins and progress to investors. It also prevents the team from counting the same commercial milestone twice.