Speakers

James Appathurai is the Interim Managing Director of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), where he leads efforts to foster transatlantic cooperation on emerging technologies and accelerate dual-use innovation to address strategic defense challenges.

James brings over 26 years of experience at NATO, including serving most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber. In that role, he developed and implemented policies related to Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, cybersecurity, energy security, climate security, critical infrastructure protection, and hybrid defense. He previously served as NATO’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, and as Special Representative to Central Asia and the Caucasus.

From 2004 to 2010, James served as NATO Spokesperson, and earlier held roles in the Political Affairs Division as Deputy Head and Senior Planning Officer in the Policy Planning and Speechwriting Section. Before joining NATO, he served in the Canadian Department of National Defence.