Feature

Conferences and Exhibitions

Thinking about future defence evolution

Eurosatory 2016, taking place from 13-17 June in Paris, is the leading international defence and security exhibition, helping visitors to keep a finger on the pulse of the ever-evolving defence industry. Counter Terror Business looks ahead to the exhibition.

Eurosatory is currently the largest international land and air-land defence and security exhibition. Held once every two years, Eurosatory was initially dedicated solely to defence issues, but has gradually opened up to the realm of security as most exhibitors produce systems for both sectors. While the contexts of use differ greatly between defence and security, there is real technological continuum between the products. This can clearly be seen from a review of the techniques used in the two fields: unmanned vehicles, surveillance cameras, all-terrain vehicles, communication means, flak jackets, emergency medicine in crisis situations.

The international scale of the event was underlined by the presence of six new countries as exhibitors at the 2014 show – Argentina, Colombia, Hong Kong, Iraq, Japan and Panama. Eurosatory invites high level experts, whose influence is a deciding factor in the process of procurement and for operations concerning their national armed forces and security forces: program executive officers, program managers, chiefs of ‘operations’ and ‘logistics’ divisions, key personnel from technical test centres, among others.

Meeting and making business
In order to maintain pace with the changing defence landscape, the show strongly considers the future of defence and security evolution. By encouraging international workshops and panel discussions on dedicated security and defence topics confronting doctrine, technology choices and lessons learnt from operations, Eurosatory plans to build a more secure world.

This is enhanced through conferences and workshops led by international think tanks and workshops on technology clusters by specialist exhibitors. To allow exhibitors and visitors to enhance their strategic vision, Eurosatory has a dedicated area for think tanks. They present their researches, organise daily workshop-debates and take part in different conference cycles during the Exhibition.

The Eurosatory Conferences
Eurosatory 2016 offers a large panel of conferences focusing on visitors and exhibitors issues of interest. Less than two hours in length, they attract a high level panel of speakers which will include representatives from the operational side, industry, media and experts.

The cycles of conference include: international workshops and panel discussions on dedicated security and defence topics confronting doctrine, technology choices and lessons learned from operations; conferences and workshops on defence and security policies and strategy, held by international think tanks; and conferences on defence and security economic topics.
The organiser COGES also provides exhibitors with a complementary, high-impact ‘tool’ to promote their company, their products or their technology, whether it be a product or system presentation, or the advance launch of a new product or system.

These ‘Exhibitor Conferences’ (45 minutes followed by a 10-minute Q&A session) will take place in an open conference room inside one of the exhibition halls. These conferences are included in the general conference programme.

In 2016, Eurosatory will continue to provide major prime contractors with a complementary, high-impact ‘tool’ to present their industrial strategy, purchasing policy and standards. Prepared in advance by mutual agreement between the participants, the Eurosatory defence and security business meetings are held during the exhibition. This exhibitor free and unique service in the Land Security & Defence world facilitates contact between buyers and suppliers in the defence area and between buyers and solution providers in the security area.

Technology clusters
Exhibitors positioned on particular technology niches can form clusters to improve their visibility and be more easily identified by visitors (highlighted signs). A conference area will be set aside for them. Clusters planned for 2016 include: Training and Simulation; Homeland Security and Emergency Response; Protection of infrastructure and sensitive facilities; CBRNe; Embedded electronics; and Measurements and Testing Centres.

The nature of conflicts and situations confronting the armed forces has changed. Simulation is an economical solution in line with budget reductions. Today simulation technologies offer training conditions identical to reality, at lower cost. The integration of simulation directly into the core of a system from the design phase is now a basic feature of all weapon and command systems. Civil and military technologies are evolving in parallel to provide solutions that are increasingly realistic and adaptable to all situations.

Eurosatory provides a specific area dedicated to the promotion of simulation and training for the forces personnel. It brings together the simulation industry and training and simulation centres for the armed forces. A programme of conferences dedicated to this area of expertise is presented by high-level experts specialised in simulation. Participants are encouraged to come with turnkey solutions.

The French Ministry of Defence presents the full range of its simulation capabilities and know how and official delegations are particularly attracted to this cluster which is very well located in the heart of the exhibition.

Infrastructure Protection
Facing increasing risks on people and assets, industry and critical facilities are strongly demanding for suitable products and innovative solutions, which are already budgeted. This cluster covers security for infrastructure and critical facilities.

Security managers require technologies that enable them to anticipate, protect, analyse and respond to any type of threat (industrial, natural, terrorist). Technologies related to this cluster include all products and services necessary for detection, protection, communication, identification and action in the event of a threat.

In the face of an increasingly broad spectrum of threats, providers of partial or integrated solutions are gathered in a single location, to present specific or global response to facility designers and security managers.

Equipment on show includes: fence, barbed wire, perimeter and area protection; intrusion detection systems and sensors; systems for geo-location and tracking security guards; video surveillance systems; vehicle inspection, licence plates identification; access control; identification systems; control access center, command post; warning systems; and emergency evacuation.

Further Information
www.eurosatory.com

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