NATO Allied Command Transformation concluded the 42nd Think-Tank for Information Decision and Execution Superiority Sprint, or “TIDE Sprint.” This event stands as one of Allied Command Transformation’s and NATO’s leading think-tank gatherings, aimed at fostering advancements and innovations that rapidly evolve concepts and specifications to enhance and design more interoperable partnership between NATO and Partner Nations.
TIDE Sprint forms part of Allied Command Transformation’s Interoperability Continuum, a series of events including the Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXercise (CWIX) and TIDE Hackathon. Collectively, these events continuously improve NATO and partner nations’ ability to communicate, cooperate, and collaborate. They serve as forward-looking gatherings that bring together the extended TIDE Community to collaboratively address and resolve Command and Control capability and Information Technology service challenges.
TIDE Sprint 2024 saw more than 620 attendees from NATO, military, industry and academia, tackling interoperability from multiple perspectives – including people, processes, and technology; companies like Microsoft, CRYPTO4A, Terra Quantum, Evonik, shared their experiences with the audience and helped stewarding discussions on a multitude of Multi Domain Operations and Digital Transformation interoperability-related topics.
In his opening remarks, Major General Dr Michael Faerber, Deputy Chief of Staff for Capability Development, Cyber Information Domain and Digitisation of the German Bundeswehr, stated that “our societies and their subsystems are more and more linked to each other. Almost everything is related to everything else.”
In the words of the Chief Information Officer for the NATO Enterprise, Dr Manfred Boudreaux-Drehmer, “we’re seeing digital transformation as going to 2030 but I don’t think it’s going to be done by 2030; I think this is more like a journey than an actual destination.”
Track Leads provided advice on Information Retrieval in Multi-Domain Operations, AI-Assisted Operations Planning, Wargaming Enhancements, inputs to streamline the Artificial Intelligence procurement process; as well as the role of the Cyber Domain in Multi-Domain Operations and the impact of quantum technologies on the security of communications. Other advice covered NATO’s use of Enterprise Architecture approaches to coordinate national Multi Domain Operations and Digital Transformation initiatives, identifying gaps and overlaps in assets supporting military missions. TIDE Sprint outcomes also covered 3D printing, autonomous vehicles and how new technologies such as telehealth and medical robotics will enable the evolution of Military Medical Support and Digital Transformation.
Brigadier General Thorsten L. Jorgensen, Allied Command Transformation’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Requirements, focused on how the interoperability community communicates and conveys messages to leaders and decision makers outside the community, who are not into the technical details; these quite technical topics must be communicated in ways which they can understand and relate to. Going forward, he envisages the Interoperability Continuum to include one TIDE Hackathon, one TIDE Sprint, one CWIX and one iO360 to maintain engagement with the community. He concluded his remarks expressing his appreciation to the team from Germany, who has been hosting TIDE Sprint 2024, for their dedication and support.
Each TIDE Sprint Track aims to identify emerging requirements, pressing problems, and innovation opportunities, ensuring NATO’s warfighters are prepared for success in future missions. The outcomes and recommendations from TIDE Sprint events will shape NATO capability development efforts and future work programmes.
