There is a need for a mechanism and toolset to enable innovation-focused collaboration among NATO, NATO nations, academia and industry and provide an incubation capability to help close an existing gap in the Idea-to-Operational Use process. The objective would be to reduce a noticeable duplication of efforts within NATO and NATO nations caused by limited coordination of similar efforts (e.g. exploration of AI technologies) - and to increase reuse of resulting products. An Innovation Framework that would harmonize innovation activities and products, addressing the major steps that span across the end-to-end process of Idea-to-Operational Use.
The objective of the panel is to share know-how on effective tools, techniques, and methods that would facilitate a major cultural shift towards sustained enablement of innovation in NATO and NATO nations. The panel will discuss examples of where innovation has paid off, and examples where innovation did not play a role – and how this caused longer-term problems because of the business-as-usual approach.