The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) is the largest conference in the world showcasing simulation, education, modelling and training technology for the exchange of information among industry, the military and educational communities.
With over 15,000 attendees from 51 nations, 1771 of which international, 120 Flag Officers and senior Government representatives, this year broke records of the conference’s 51 years of existence.
NATO continues to fully support this event with Allied Command Transformation leading the NATO wide planning and execution, and the NATO Science & Technology Organisation sharing the NATO exhibition booth. In fact, Allied Command Transformation’s support to the planning and execution of the event has resulted in its Logo being shown on the major screens during all plenary events, alongside the United States Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coastguard.
“To be in a huge room with over 5,000 people including very senior leaders and see the Allied Command Transformation Logo alongside US services on 30 Meter screens was a fantastic moment for me”; said Paul Thurkettle, Allied Command Transformation’s representative to the I/ITSEC planning board and International Committee member.
Allied Command Transformation supported the various senior panels with two flag officers attending, as well as representation from education and training facilities, working groups and NATO bodies.
Brigadier General Sommer from Capability Engineering and Innovation division was part of the senior flag officer panel on the opening day, standing in for Allied Commander Transformation, General Mercier, and on the Cloud-Based Simulation Panel which is part of the Modelling & Simulation as a service working group.
Brigadier General Tsouganatos from Joint Force Trainer represented NATO on the Global Perspectives in Learning panel alongside five other national leaders.
The United States senior speakers have always stated the value of collation forces and with Secretary Mattis’s newly issued guidance to strengthen alliances and attract new partners, along with NATO’s ongoing mandate for partnerships, this event supported all the goals and ambitions. The value of Partnerships was consistently mentioned on all panels and the event seeks to increase its outreach.
For Allied Command Transformation staff the event allows the opportunity to talk and learn from over 480 exhibiting companies as well as attend wide-ranging topics from the 120 papers being presented. This, along with special panels, makes the four-day conference jam packed for both learning and presenting NATO projects to the attendees.
This year, NATO and the US-led Advanced Distributed Learning Partnership continued to share the booth space, reducing costs and fully supporting the 11 Advanced Distributed Learning partnership nations.
For the first time this year, NATO and Sweden were involved in Operation Blended Warrior, a “Live, Virtual, Constructive” demonstration across the show floor. Objectives of Operation Blended Warrior include identifying challenges and documenting lessons-learned to achieve a true interoperable, plug-and-play environment associated with distributed training.
For more information on I/ITSEC – please contact the NATO Allied Command Transformation lead – Paul Thurkettle.
I/ITSEC – http://www.iitsec.org/
NATO e-Learning
NATO Science & Technology Organisation –
Advanced Distributed Learning Partnership – http://www.adlnet.org
Source: NATO
By
L. J. De Rothschild
Senior Editor