Rebranded for 2020, IT²EC is Europe’s primary forum for representatives from across the military, civil sector, industry and academia to connect and share knowledge on simulation, training and education.

The event’s three-day exhibition and conference agenda is shaped around supporting the development and the supply of solutions that deliver individual excellence within complex joint, combined and inter-agency frameworks for today’s military forces.

Experts agree, this requires both training at the individual level, and the ability to develop collective excellence – and the blending of digital technology developments with more traditional methods is key.

The concept of the ‘Digital Twin’ or ‘Digital Thread’ has come to the fore here. As a digital replica of a living or non-living physical entity, Digital Twins have the potential to accelerate and de-risk activities such as design, procurement, manufacturing, mission planning and training, and better enable enterprises to take a whole life approach to projects.

The Digital Twin construct can be extended to include synthetic representations of human teammates and is also complementary to the growing application of Industry 4.0, the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies.

IT²EC 2020 will provide a platform for the military and civil security/resilience communities to exchange knowledge on these ideas and the innovation that will make them a reality. The main conference theatres will focus on three inter-related aspects of this goal: ‘Human factors and performance in a Digital Twin age,’ ‘propelling today’s advances to surpass the requirements of tomorrow,’ and ‘designing resilient technologies and architectures to withstand and adapt to their new usages.’

In addition, the free-to-attend DisTec showfloor experience will demonstrate the very latest in innovative designs for simulation training technology. Visit www.itec.co.uk to view the agendas for more details.

Undersea Defence Technology (UDT), as the largest global event dedicated to the underwater defence industry, is a multi-faceted exhibition and conference reflecting the community’s desire for continuous learning and development.

UDT is designed to equip nations to deal with an increasing diversity of threats and challenges. It brings together researchers, military end-users and professionals spanning the entire supply chain to evaluate developing solutions in one of the harshest environments known to man.

In 2020 the event will take place 26-28 May in Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands. The show’s overarching theme is ‘Teamworking in the Underwater Domain’. Teamwork, between military and government, academic research, and industry development – what the Netherlands calls the ‘Golden Triangle’ of capability development – is a concept vital to capability development.

Teamwork encourages regular and institutionalised collaboration between the government, knowledge institutions and industry. This ensures developments are both informed by the latest research and designed in accordance with the latest operational requirements. UDT is a platform for the exchange of information and ideas between those working in the development and exploitation of undersea defence technology; it is the Underwater Golden Triangle.

The main conference agenda covers the following key areas: Operational Drivers & Imperatives, incorporating underwater communications, human-machine interfacing, command information flow and anti-surface warfare (ASW); and Platform Design, including propulsion and energy system developments, signatures, lifecycle management and costs and innovative design. A Sensors & Processing stream will cover acoustic modelling, sonar design, passive sensors, and processing optical and audio signals; while the Unmanned, Remotely Piloted & Autonomous Systems stream will consider Mine Counter Measures, Unmanned ASW, navigation and control of autonomous systems, and applications of extra-large UUVs (XLUUVs).

The full agenda is now available to view on the event website, with speakers confirmed from TNO, Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, UK MoD Submarine Delivery Agency, Lloyd’s Register, Damen Shipyards, and Marina Militare Italiana to name a few.

For more information and to register please visit www.udt-global.com