European Union and NATO debate the impact of disruptive technologies on Defence

The European Defence Agency (EDA) annual research and development conference will be held on 20 April from 08h30 (Lisbon time) under the theme of “The Impact of Disruptive Technologies on Defence”. This conference, to be held online, will be co-organised by the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence and the EDA as part of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The conference will bring together high level representatives from the EU Member States’ ministries of defence, academia, industry, European institutions and NATO i, with the aim of furthering open and stimulating debate on the need for the European Union and its Member States to continue to advance emerging and disruptive technologies with a view to improving their military defence capacities, and to invest in innovative, latest generation technologies.

In this context, matters such as the employment of artificial intelligence in the Defence sector and the impact of autonomous systems in the same area will be discussed.

The main speakers at the conference will be:

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  João Gomes Cravinho - Portuguese Minister of National Defence
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  Jiří Šedivý - Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency
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  Stephen Quest - Director-General of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre
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  Petter Bedoire - Chief Technology Officer, Saab AB
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  General André Lanata - Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, NATO

For further information, please visit the conference website.