DIGITAL SME Club Member ATOMNIA won the Start2Def 2026 challenge, led by Belgium’s Royal Higher Institute for Defence. The challenge is the inaugural defence tech accelerator programme that focuses on dual-use tech innovations.

ATOMNIA is officially recognised as shaping the future operating picture for European defence and national resilience. A position further endorsed by Theo Franken, Belgium’s Minister of Defence and Foreign Trade, who said that the two START2DEF winners are, “Belgian innovation that will soon have a global impact.”

This recognition highlights the growing contribution that European SMEs and technology can make to all sectors, particularly those relating to critical sectors and technologies, where reliance on non-EU providers sees Europe locked into strategic dependencies that could leave the bloc vulnerable.

ATOMNIA won the award for their OMNIA Black solution. OMNIA is ATOMNIA’s all‑in‑one network and security platform, combining SD‑WAN, SASE and XDR into a single, tightly integrated solution designed for organisations seeking to reduce the cost and complexity of fragmented security and connectivity. It delivers resilient connectivity, SASE frameworks, encryption, advanced threat detection and rapid remediation across fixed sites, cloud environments and remote or mobile teams in a single operational plane.

OMNIA BLACK is the mission‑grade implementation of this stack: a ruggedised, quantum‑ready, all‑in‑one device that fuses hardware, SD‑WAN, SASE and XDR into one deployable unit. It delivers encrypted data, voice and video over multi‑path, ultra‑fast failover links, backed by in‑country, air‑gapped cloud gateways to preserve tactical sovereignty and absolute data control for defence and critical infrastructure operators.

For a defence operations centre, border surveillance system or national grid control room, this means: sensors stay online; command links remain available; and cyber incidents can be contained and remediated in real time instead of being analysed after the damage is done.

Their solution is ideal for entities under the scope of the updated Network and Information Systems Directive. NIS2 sets the bar on security, monitoring, incident response and supply‑chain assurance for operators of essential and important entities across the EU. OMNIA’s integrated SD‑WAN, SASE and XDR capabilities provide continuous visibility of network traffic, enforceable security policies across all sites and users, and 24/7 threat detection with automated response – all of which map directly to key NIS2 expectations around risk management, monitoring and incident handling.

OMNIA BLACK extends this by providing sovereign, in‑country infrastructure and air‑gapped control planes that help operators demonstrate where sensitive data flows, who can access it, and how it is protected – critical concerns under NIS2 and defence‑sector assurance regimes. By integrating technologies from partners like Advanced Cyber Security – another DIGITAL SME Club Member –  into the XDR layer, ATOMNIA also strengthens security visibility and accountability across complex supply chains that underpin critical infrastructure.

The result of this collaboration highlights the strengths and agility of European SMEs and the potential that can be unlocked with cross border innovation. Developing homegrown technologies and innovation has brought benefits to both companies and resulted in a stronger product that can meet cybersecurity requirements for European critical infrastructure providers.

For ATOMNIA, this is just the beginning: “Start2Def is not our finish line” says CEO Anthony; “it is our launchpad. The next phase for ATOMNIA is about scaling OMNIA and OMNIA BLACK across allied defence and critical infrastructure networks, so that resilience is not a privilege – it is the default.”