NATO conference – future of Command and Control

The first panel discussion of the second day of the NATO C2 Conference 2025 (c2conference2025) took a look into how NATO, industry, government and academia can improve interoperability at the speed of relevance.

Ms. Wendy Gilmour (former High Commissioner and NATO Assistant Secretary General) opened the floor by stressing in her opening statement that NATO must maintain a constant and rapid feedback loop between lessons learned on the battlefield and what industry can provide or develop. The speed of acquisition is changing, along with the mindset involved, but supporting systems need to evolve as well. Getting the right capabilities to the warfighter as quickly as possible needs to be the highest priority.

Mr. Ben Crampton (Microsoft) concluded his opening remarks with the observation that many solutions are available off the shelf, and that starting from scratch in the current environment is “literally a waste of time”.

Mr. Paolo Pezzola (infodas) added that military training for new technology takes time. He emphasized that the military and system developers should work more closely together. Processes and doctrine are often too outdated to address today’s challenges. He noted that the technology the military will use tomorrow is often the technology industry used yesterday.

Brigadier General (ret.) Robbie Boyd OBE Boyd (OPEWI – Europe’s War Institute) focused on how to make this cooperation a reality. How do we bring it all together? The military needs the right financial mechanisms and brokers to enable rapid development and acquisition. He encouraged a shift to cocreation, including bringing in professionals from the finance sector to rapidly solve procurement problems through a mixture of military, industry and finance cocreation.

We would like to thank the panel for their shared experiences and insights. Food for thought. Keep in mind that these were only the opening statements and that the discussion that followed went deeper into the challenges, opportunities and the military’s position in the system. Join the discussion throughout the day using the hashtag c2conference2025.