The Belgian Royal Higher Institute for Defence and US Army DEVCOM and US Office of Naval Research – Global have the pleasure to invite you to this second bilateral workshop on defence research. The aim of the event is to familiarize the Belgian Research community with available funding mechanisms and to identify and share new, crazy, and potentially disruptive ideas (as opposed to discussing past successes).
The “Forging the future – BE-US joint effort in science for a safer world” workshop to be held in Royal Military Academy in Brussels, BE, on 15-16 October 2024 will be the second edition of this event introducing Belgian research and technology community to representatives from the Belgium Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the United States of America – Department of Defence (DoD). This meeting will provide academic institutions, research institutions, industries (big and small cap) and government representatives an opportunity to discuss emerging research and technologies across a broad range of topic areas with a goal of building collaboration across the research community and with government agencies.
The workshop program will be built around 5 topical areas (described below) where researchers will be invited to present 10-minutes “lightning” talks describing their blue sky, crazy ideas. Speakers will be selected based on abstracts selection. Abstracts (template) should describe concepts and vision rather than focusing on preliminary data and past efforts. Abstracts should be sent to workshopUS@mil.be and need to be received by 15th June 2024.
This event will also offer the occasion for networking opportunities and the possibility of bilateral talks with BEL Defence and/or US Defence funding authorities.
Workshop
Forging the future
BE-US joint effort in science for a safer world
Key Dates:
16 May 2024 >> Opening registration system
15 June 2024 >> Deadline for abstracts submission
8 October 2024 >> Deadline for registration
15-16 October 2024 >> Event
Moderators:
BEL: Lucie Geurts (lucie.geurts@mil.be)
US: Scott Walper (scott.a.walper.civ@us.navy.mil)
Royal Military Academy
Campus Renaissance
Rue Hobbema, 8
1000 Brussels
Topic areas
Quantum
Understanding, influence and control in quantum processes can bring about massive leaps in many fields. Some interesting topics include quantum information sciences, (sub)atomic and molecular physics, entanglement and light-matter interactions, position navigation and timing using quantum processes.
Material Sciences
Understanding and development of novel materials and materials for extreme environments. Some interesting topics include novel uses of 2D materials, high entropy materials, new semiconductor materials, superconductors, design of new materials with unique physical properties, super-capacitors, 3D-printing, and quantum materials.
Biotechnology
Engineering biological systems harnesses functionality and features biology has to offer that are far superior to conventional technologies. Biotechnologies encompass synthetic biology, human performance augmentation, chemical and biological defence, biosensors. Engineered biology can find application in meta-materials, sensor and sense making, information processing, platform molecule production, and environmental and human health. This topic area will span from foundational research to enabling technologies and applied systems.
AI/Autonomy
Processing information and data more quickly, smarter, and better leads to advances in many fields. Interesting topics include functional AI, explainable AI, problem-specific machine learning, autonomy of operational systems and autonomous systems of systems, incorporation of unique/urgent constraints, human-machine interfaces, distributed sensing and analytics, AI/ML for logistics.
Hypersonics
The extreme use case of travel at speeds above the speed of sound creates scientific and technical challenges. Some interesting topics include control surfaces, ultra-high temperature materials (including ceramics), dynamics, energetic materials, and chemistry for propulsion.