The Concept Development and Experimentation Conference, co-sponsored by HQ SACT and the US Joint Staff J7 and supported by The Joint Analysis Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC), took place at the Lisbon Marriott Hotel November 14-17, 2011.

The CD&E Conference is the leading annual forum which provides a unique opportunity for CD&E stakeholders to discuss the most current issues relevant to the community.

The conference objectives this year are to create an environment conducive to information sharing and relationship building while highlighting the benefits of CD&E methodologies; and to obtain international perspectives on ideas, discuss relevant problems and challenges, and explore potential solutions to benefit ongoing CD&E projects focused on providing a return on investment.

Brigadier General Steven Salazar, Assistant Deputy Director for US Joint Development, and Brigadier General Giovanni Fungo, Assistant Chief of Staff for ACT Capability Engineering Division, personally welcomed more than 200 participants. General Dr. Mieczyslaw Bieniek, Deputy SACT, welcomed participants via a video recording.

General Salazar pointed out that this has been a transformational year with the disestablishment of JFCOM, and linking CD&E more closely with doctrine and lessons learned. General Fungo gave a brief history of CD&E, and highlighted how it must continue to evolve and improve. In their opening remarks, the sponsors pointed out that CD&E was particularly relevant in this current fiscally austere environment, and how the community needed to find efficient and effective ways of doing business to produce a good return on investment from CD&E efforts. Duplicative processes needed to be eliminated going forward, and the community needed to determine how to better coordinate resources and synergize efforts so that we could work together more efficiently.

Over the course of the conference, participants had two days of panels and information sessions followed by two days of workshops.

The plenary panels and information sessions included topics such as CD&E’s role in Capability Development and Force Development, CD&E Planning and Engagement and its relationship to the NATO Defence Planning Process, and CD&E Best Practices from a national perspective. Examples of the workshops include NATO Sea Basing as a Force Multiplier, NATO Collaborative Assessment, and NATO Red Teaming Capability Development, and Enabling the Joint and Coalition Logistics Enterprise.