International Technology Alliance formed to drive joint research for U.S. Army and UK Ministry of Defence

Imperial forms part of alliance aimed at solving military technology challenges - News

Issued by IBM
Tuesday 19 September 2006

The United States Army Research Laboratory and United Kingdom Ministry of Defence have selected an IBM-led consortium, the newly formed International Technology Alliance (ITA) in Network and Information Sciences, to undertake a research programme exploring advanced technology for secure wireless and sensor networks to support future coalition operations, over a potential 10 year period, with a value of up to $135.8 million.

This Alliance, which includes Imperial College London, represents a new way of conducting collaborative research by fostering close partnerships among government, academic, and industry researchers in both countries. The ITA creates a critical mass of private sector and government researchers focused on solving military technology challenges central to future coalition military operations; enabling staff rotations among all organisations in the Alliance; and facilitating rapid and affordable transition of technologies with an innovative transition model.

Successful future military operations will depend on the capability of coalition forces to quickly gather, interpret and share battlefield information to coordinate actions, so the research will enable interoperability and communications across disparate military units, allowing them to operate more effectively.

"With the ITA, the U.S. and UK are pioneering a ground-breaking model, drawing upon academia and industry for a world class research and technology partnership," said Paul Horn, Senior Vice President, IBM Research. "The ITA program is designed to break down the barriers between different technical areas and define synergistic projects that promote cooperation across international and organisational boundaries."

The ITA brings together leading U.S. and UK commercial and academic organisations in four interconnected areas of research: network theory; security across a system of systems; sensor information processing and delivery; and distributed coalition planning and decision making. The programme will provide open collaborative research cutting across national, institutional and technical area boundaries, and, with 25 partners, is one of the world's largest collaborative technology programmes. The consortium comprises:

U.S. industry: IBM; BBN Technologies; The Boeing Company; Honeywell; Applied Research Associates.

UK industry: IBM; LogicaCMG; Roke Manor Research; Systems Engineering and Assessment.

US academia: Carnegie Mellon University; City University of New York; Columbia University; University of Maryland; University of Massachusetts Amherst; Pennsylvania State University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; University of California, Los Angeles.

UK academia: Imperial College, London; University of Aberdeen; University of Cambridge; University of Cranfield; Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (University of London); University of Southampton; University of York.

"This International Technology Alliance allows us to focus innovation and insights from the best in our industry and university communities on both sides of the Atlantic on the scientific enablers of net-centric warfare," said Dr. Thomas H. Killion, U.S. Army Chief Scientist, "It will build a base of shared fundamental knowledge that will help to facilitate future coalition operations. As a result, it is really as much about partnering with our closest ally as it is about addressing critical research challenges in network and information sciences that will enable us to foster next generation tactical mobile networks."

"The International Technology Alliance will stimulate progress in research in critically important areas and will reinforce cooperation in UK-US defence technology sharing, said Imperial College's Professor Sir Roy Anderson, the MoD's Chief Scientific Adviser. "The ITA concept has taken the best features of the MoD's Defence Technology Centres and the US Army's Collaborative Technology Alliances, and applied them internationally."

The IBM Research-led consortium was selected following a competitive procurement process. The joint fundamental research component is funded by the UK Ministry of Defence, U.S. Army, and some of the Consortium members, with separately funded technology transition awards, to allow each client to rapidly exploit the research results.

Within the fundamental research program, projects will be handled by transatlantic virtual teams composed of U.S. and UK researchers drawn from several Alliance members. Technical guidance in each of the four research areas is provided by a team of three researchers, one from UK Government, one from U.S. Army Research Laboratory, and one from a consortium member. In addition to the research participation, IBM is providing project management and contract administration functions in both countries.

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Elise Bulger
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