The commercial sector is developing key technologies and applications that have the potential for cost-effective adaptation for defence use and use in modelling and simulation (M&S) applications such as defence planning, training, operations, and capability development. The NATO Modelling & Simulation Group (NMSG) has recognized the importance of (low-cost) commercial technologies and has addressed their use in a series of regular workshops, most recently in 2021. On October 5, 2023, the NMSG will hold what is now the 18th workshop at the Ergife Palace Hotel in Rome, Italy, coinciding with the NATO Computational Analysis, Exercise and Experimentation 2023 Forum (CA2 X2 Forum), which will be held October 3-5, 2023.

This workshop will serve to share national experiences, explore commercial technologies and games, understand best practices, and identify barriers to further use and ways to overcome them. It will also help formulate a technology roadmap for possible future NMSG Task Group activities on commercial technologies and games.

The goal is for each attendee to develop a common understanding of the issues and opportunities. Through presentations, demonstrations, and discussions, workshop participants will gain knowledge and experience in the respective topics. Technical and application information, as well as demonstrations of selected commercial technologies, will help participants better understand the issues so that they can contribute to the development of a strategy for the use of these technologies by NATO and other nations.

The Workshop will focus on:

  • Game Architectures and Game Engines (e.g., Unity, Unreal)
  • M&S as a Service architectures and Cloud applications (e.g. NATO MSaaS, Azure) 
  • Artificial Intelligence engines and Machine Learning tools (e.g. TinyML)
  • Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality (xR) developments (e.g. HTC Vive, Hololens)
  • Gaming Applications (e.g. Cyber Awareness games and Cyber Effect simulations) 

The workshop addresses participants from government, industry and academia working in the field of modelling and simulation. The event is open to NATO nations, NATO Bodies, Science and Technology Organization Enhanced Opportunity Partners (STO EOP), Partnership for Peace countries (PfP), Partners across the Globe (GP) and an Invited Contact Country (Singapore).

Potential authors can submit their abstracts until June 23, 2023. Individuals interested in attending the MSG-210 workshop can find registration details on the STO Events website (see below). Deadline for registration is September 15, 2023.

Questions regarding the technical aspects of the program or the content of the presentations should be directed to the Workshop Committee: