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Webinar One

 IT²EC 2024 - defence training and technology event

A NEW REALITY: The role of training and simulation in a post Covid-19 world.

Now available on demand.

On Tuesday 28 April, the training and simulation community were set to gather in London for the start of IT²EC 2020. Following the event's postponement, we marked the original show dates with a digital keynote panel discussion. 

In our free-to-view webinar, our expert guests discussed the impact these truly historic times will have on our industry, and in turn, the part we must play in the global response. 

Watch on demand >>

Watch on demand >>

Background

As the Covid-19 outbreak began to roll inexorably across the globe and Europe became its epicentre, the UK’s foremost professor of modern history, Lord Peter Hennessy, commented that this event was a critical moment in modern life. He said that those that lived through it would count their lives by that which was Before Coronavirus and that which was After Coronavirus

Existential threats, such as that posed by Covid-19, have the power to reshape human societies. It is too early to tell how little or how much this pandemic will reshape our lives, but it is clear that it will do so in many ways that we have yet to understand.

The UK, which is hosting IT²EC this year, has long identified a global pandemic disease as the Number One risk to national security. Other nations have similarly highlighted this risk, but almost all have been caught off-guard by these events.

IT²EC's conference theme is “Are You Ready for Your Digital Twin?”. As we look towards the horizon when we will be free of Covid-19, but not free of the risk of another equally or perhaps more devastating pandemic, we asked our panel of training and simulation experts how training and simulation (and your Digital Twin) can help society and its key institutions better prepare for the reality of another global pandemic.

Who participated?

Webinar Chairman: Rusmat Ahmed

The digital panel discussion was hosted by Rusmat Ahmed, Chairman of the IT²EC 2020 Conference Steering Committee.

Away from IT²EC, Rusmat is SVP Sales EMEA at Bohemia Interactive Simulations., Rusmat has been with BISim since 2014 and leads all sales and business development activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

He has a wealth of business experience in defence, for projects for armies and air forces, and in both civil and military training and simulation. Rusmat has an MBA from INSEAD France and a degree in economics from the University of York

Click on the images below for more information about our other panellists.

About Rusmat

Following a military flying career, Rusmat worked for Racal and Thales in business development, strategy, and bid and project management roles. He ran business units in civil and military avionics and was project or operations director on large, multi-company PFI projects. Moving increasingly to customer-facing roles, he was a sales director at L-3 before joining BISim.

Panellists

Wim Huiskamp

Wim Huiskamp

Chief Scientist, Modelling, Simulation and Gaming, TNO - Defence, Security and Safety

Wim Huiskamp has over 20 years of international experience in the field of Modelling, Simulation and Gaming.  Wim is program manager of the national simulation research program carried out on behalf of the Dutch MoD.  Wim served as chairman of the NATO Modelling and Simulation Group (NMSG) between 2013 and 2016. He is a former chairman of the NMSG M&S Standards Subgroup (MS3) and is the liaison of the NMSG to the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization SISO.

Wim is a board member of the European Training and Simulation Association (ETSA) and he served on the Conference Committees of ITEC11 - ITEC16 as theme lead for M&S Architectures and Technologies. He was ITEC17 Conference Chairman.

Dr Elaine Raybourn

Dr Elaine Raybourn

Principal Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories, Applied Cognitive Science

Elaine M. Raybourn, Ph.D. is a Principal Member of the Technical Staff in Applied Cognitive Science at Sandia National Laboratories. As a European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) Fellow, she worked with software development teams at Fraunhofer FIT in Germany, the French National Institute for Computer Science (INRIA), and BT Global Research and Development in the UK. Her research focuses on virtual teams, immersive simulations, and the design of transmedia learning ecosystems. She holds a Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication with an emphasis in Human Computer Interaction from the University of New Mexico and a Graduate Certificate in Modeling & Simulation of Behavioral Cybersecurity from the University of Central Florida. Dr. Raybourn is the Sandia National Laboratories Institutional PI for Interoperable Design of Extreme-scale Application Software (IDEAS-ECP).

Wolfhard Schmidt

Wolfhard Schmidt

Senior Consultant, Antycip Simulations

  • 01.Jul.1977 Joining the German Army
  • 1981 MBA UniBw Hamburg
  • 1991 -1993 AIS-Organisations Officer and Section Head FMS (Foreign Military Sales) at German Armed Forces Command USA/CA Reston, Virginia, US
  • 1993 -1996 DepCdr German Army Training Establishment Shilo/ Kanada
  • 1996 – 2001 G4 Staffofficer (exchanged) at V (US/GE) Corps Heidelberg incl: G4 of the German Support Element SFOR Aug-Dec 1998
  • 2001-2003 Commanding Officer Supply Battallion 12 in Veitshöchheim incl.: National Commander and  German NBC-Kontingent CJFTF CM  KUWAIT (2002)
  • 2003- 2005 G1 and Head of  German Support Element Joint Headquarters Centre in Heidelberg incl :   6 month J3 Army and CoS at German Liaision Cmd Headquarters US CENTCOM  in Tampa (Fl.) USA
  • 2005- 2008 Branch Head Training Support Joint Force Training Centre  Bydgoszcz, Poland
  • 2008- 2010 Staff Officer G3 Training at the German MoD
  • 2010- 2013 CoS Garrison Command Berlin, from February 2013 until 28.02.20 Branch Head Wargaming and M&S Training Support Division , renamed into Capability and Concept Development Branch, Plans and Development Division  JFTC Bydgoszcz (Poland).   
  • Currently senior consultant with EWWOL Solutions Ltd supporting Antycip.