Overview
The conference will explore ‘Innovation and Inspiration’ through the following themes:
Technology: This session will consider the relationship between technology and air power inspiration and innovation. Three senior airmen, drawn from across the globe, will each provide a contemporary perspective. These views will be bracketed by those of a technologist considering the role of technology in fostering inspiration and innovation, and a futurologist offering insight as to where technology is now taking us in this regard.
 ‘Fighting systems’: A ‘fighting system’ harnesses technology, people and the organisation to deliver a decisive military output. This session will consider whether it is the ‘fighting systems’ that is the key inspirational factor for air power practitioners and that compels airmen to innovate from within or whether the current thinking behind agile organisations, which effectively advocates mission command and decentralised control i.e. innovation at the edge, should be the future of warfare.Â
Leadership: Leadership and its contribution to inspiration and innovation is the theme of session three. Effective leadership of any organisation is important but what exactly is its role in spurring innovation in an air power context?Â
Organisational culture: This session seeks to address the question of what constitutes an appropriate organizational culture that both inspires people to perform and encourages them to innovate.
Agenda
Day 1
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Registration for Shoulder events
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Shoulder event A: Electronic Warfare
Speaker: Professor Steve Roberts, Vice President, Strategy Airborne & Space Systems Division, Leonardo
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Shoulder event B: Additive Manufacturing
Speaker: Matt Stevens, Additive Manufacturing Lead, BAE Systems
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Shoulder event C: The Combat Cloud
Speaker: Lieutenant General (Retd) Dave Deptula, Dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
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Main Conference Registration and Lunch
Sponsored by General Atomics Aeronautical - -
Conference Welcome
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Keynote Address
Introduction: Dr Karin von Hippel, Director-General, Royal United Services Institute
Keynote: Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford, Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Air Force
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Session One: Technology
Chair: Mr Simon Edmonds, Innovate UK, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, HM Government
Speakers:
Mr Douglas Barrie, Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace, International Institute for Strategic Studies
Lieutenant-General Michael Hood, Commander, Royal Canadian Air Force
Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Parker, Air Officer Commanding No.2 Group, Royal Air Force
Dr Peter W. Singer, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation (via video link)
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Afternoon Tea
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Session Two: The ‘Fighting System’
Chair: Dr Eamonn Molloy, Associate Fellow, Saïd Business School, Oxford University
Speakers:
Professor Rob Owen, Professor of Aeronautical Science, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
Dr Andrew Tyler, Chief Executive, Northrop Grumman United Kingdom and Europe
Air Vice-Marshal Paul Atherton, Chief of Staff Operations, Royal Air Force
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Awards and Launches
Speaker: Air Vice-Marshal Richard Knighton, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Air Force
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Conference Drinks Reception
Sponsored by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman
Day 2
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Registration
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Keynote 2
Chair: Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Deputy Director-General, Royal United Services Institute
Speaker: The Rt Hon Michael Fallon MP, Secretary of State for Defence, HM Government.
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Session Three: Leadership
Chair: Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Turner, Air Officer Commanding No. 22 (Training) Group, Royal Air Force
Speakers:
John Dowdy, Director, Practice Leader, Global and EMEA, McKinsey & Co
Hugh Griffiths, Chief Executive, Inzpire Cadet Warrant Officer
Katherine Hill, Bedfordshire & Cambridgeshire Wing Air Training Corps
Air Marshal Greg Bagwell, former Deputy Commander Operations, RAF
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Morning Coffee
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Session Four: Culture
Chair: Professor John Louth, Director, Defence, Industries & Society, Royal United Services Institute
Speakers:
Professor Tai Ming Cheung, Associate Professor; Director, University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation
Air Vice-Marshal Richard Knighton, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Air Force
Jim Pennycook, Centre for Defence Enterprise, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory
General Frank Gorenc, Commander Allied Air Command
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Keynote 3
Chair: Professor Malcolm Chalmers, Deputy Director-General, Royal United Services Institute
Speaker: Jonathan Firth, Executive Vice President, Spaceport and Programme Development, Virgin Galactic
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Closing Remarks
Speaker: Air Chief Marshal Sir Andrew Pulford, Chief of the Air Staff, Royal Air Force
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Lunch and Conference Close
Sponsored by Airbus Group