The Centre for Defence enterprise is the Ministry of Defence’s new gateway for UK science and technology industry, academia and innovators to help ensure that our Armed Forces have access to the best equipment, science and technology, now and in the future. The Centre provides a quick first response to ideas with a range of advice, assistance and research funding.

To help you understand how mathematics plays a fundamental role in solving some of the complex requirements of the UK’s Armed Forces, the Centre jointly hosted a half day workshop with the Industrial Mathematics KTN in its offices on the Harwell Science & Innovation Campus. This workshop was an opportunity for you to meet key MOD scientists and decision makers. It was an opportunity for you to understand the specific challenges and issues faced by our Armed Forces today, tomorrow and in the future.

Date: Tuesday 11th November 2008, 12:30 – 17:00
Venue: Centre for Defence Enterprise , Start Electron, Harwell Science & Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire.

Speakers highlighted the many and varied challenges, opportunities and issues that face the Armed Forces. They discussed some of the areas where the MOD feels that mathematics could play a major role in resolving the challenges that the Armed Forces face. Topics included:

• Specific challenges in non-linear pattern recognition, image/pattern recognition at mm wavelengths, sensing as effectively as dog noses, and identifying single very high impact events in large data-sets.


• Potential Role of mathematics in all source intelligence analysis – analysing and combining intelligence from multiple inputs such as imagery, open sources and human intelligence. Talk was given by a representative from MOD Science Innovation and Technology Strategy.


• The MOD Counter Terrorism Centre discussed the role of mathematics in counter improvised explosive detection (IED) operations. They also presented current challenges being faced in the prediction of risk and probability.


• The DSTL Physical Science Department discussed the challenges in the development of metamodelling techniques to analyse complex, large scale computer simulations with mixed inputs and complex, multidimensional outputs. They discussed the challenge in developing general algorithms for distributed signal fusion in a network of sensors.

The workshop provided networking opportunities both over lunch and in the open forum discussion and allowed participants to contribute to the challenges. There was also the opportunity to learn more about the Centre for Defence Enterprise and the Ministry of Defence.