21-23 Oct. 2008
The NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO) hosts its first ever R&T Day from 21 to 23 October at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Created in 1998, the organization marks its tenth anniversary with an exhibition and a symposium highlighting its commitment to mutual defence and scientific development.
Organized jointly with other NATO Research and Technology Community members, such as the Science for Peace and Security Committee (SPSC), the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC), Allied Command Transformation (ACT), NATO’s three Main Armament Groups (MAGs), the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG), and the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Organization (NC3O), the main goal of the R&T Day is to highlight the role of scientific cooperation and research in supporting the needs of the Alliance, maintaining the technological lead and providing advice to NATO and national decision-makers.
Held in conjunction with the Conference of National Armaments Directors meeting on 21 and 22 October, the exhibition underlines the role played by the NATO R&T community in “Supporting Operations now and in the Future”.
Exhibitors showcase a variety of current and future capability developments – including the asymmetric threats of improvised explosive devices (IED) in Afghanistan and CBRN defence equipment to face terrorist attacks.
Entitled “Future Technology for NATO Operations”, the symposium held on 23 October “will dare a glance into the deeper future, addressing “R&T Trends”, giving us an insight in what technological advances we might expect, and which impact they could have on our ability to meet our collective defence and security needs”, said Mr. Jean-François Bureau, Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, who opened the event together with Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Peter Flory.
