Considered the Alliance’s “voice of industry”, the NATO Industry Advisory Group provides Allied Command Transformation with an integral part of the Alliance’s instrument of power through its defence industrial base.
The NATO Industrial Advisory Group, called NIAG, met with its community of interest conference at NATO Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia on 28 April 2022.
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Phillippe Lavigne made opening remarks linking the importance of industry collaboration to warfare development and adopting a new mindset, primarily as NATO aims to utilize emerging and disruptive technologies to adapt to military needs.
“Innovation can be found in small and medium-sized companies from all NATO Nations,” said General Philippe Lavigne. “The NATO Industrial Advisory Group facilitates helping us find the innovation where it is and proposing to us the relevant and performing open architecture on which we can build lasting capabilities.”
Additional conference speakers included Mr. Rudy Priem, NATO Industry Advisory Group Chairman, and Admiral Xavier Païtard, Co-Chair of the ACT-NIAG Community of Interest. The event was organized by Admiral Demirbilek, NATO Allied Command Transformation Assistant Chief of Staff Capability Development.
Established in 1968, the NIAG is a high-level consultative body of senior industrialists from Alliance and Partner Nations. It advises NATO and the Conference of National Armaments Directors on critical issues regarding armaments cooperation matters and the industrial and technological base of the Alliance.
The NIAG is the easiest and most cost-effective means for NATO Nations and Agencies to collaborate with industry. It offers a free exchange of views between its 5,000 industry members and NATO.
These partnerships help NATO find the best way to maintain its technological edge, accelerate implementation of new technologies and processes, speed up transformation of the Alliance’s posture, and deliver the most critical capabilities as soon as possible.
Considered the Alliance’s “voice of industry”, the NATO Industry Advisory Group provides an integral part of the Alliance’s instrument of power through its defence industrial base.
In turn, Allied Command Transformation facilitates collaboration through the Framework for Collaborative Interaction which enables the exchange of ideas and solutions between ACT and industry in a non-procurement manner.
Various tools available through the “ACT-NIAG Framework” deliver industry advice from technical to strategic levels using its toolset offering three categories of support: studies, access to the NIAG Industrial Network and representation in exercises and workshops. The Conference introduced the ACT-NIAG Framework toolset, provided case studies from 2021, and discussed the future of prototyping in 2023 and beyond.
