COE NATO Centres of Excellence Marketplace - NATO Modelling & Simulation Centre of Excellence

This week, the Centres of Excellence Marketplace is convening in NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium for a two-day event on May 22nd and 23rd, aimed at giving each of the Centres an opportunity to share their work with NATO leadership and the greater NATO stakeholder community. This is the third iteration of the Centres of Excellence Marketplace. Prior Marketplaces occurred in 2019 and 2022, also in Brussels, Belgium.

Allied Command Transformation is responsible for the establishment, accreditation, and the preparation of candidates to join the Centres of Excellence community. Each Centre connects to the four pillars: 1) Education, Training, Exercise and Evaluation; 2) Analysis and Lessons Learned; 3) Concept Development and Standardization; and 4) Doctrine Development and Experimentation.

The Centres are not a part of the NATO Command structure, rather they belong to a larger framework that supports NATO Command through valuable expertise and experience that benefit the Alliance and support NATO’s transformation. They do so while ensuring there is no unnecessary duplication of assets, resources, or capabilities already within NATO’s command structure.

The Centres of Excellence community continues to grow adding the 29th Centre – Space – in 2023 and soon to add a 30th Centre hosted by Canada, focusing on the topic Climate Change & Security. The Centres of Excellence also incorporate NATO partner nations Australia, Austria, Georgia, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

Funding for the 29 Centres of Excellence is accomplished at the national or multi-national level, fully separate from NATO funding streams. Framework Nations, Sponsoring Nations, and Contributing Nations finance the operational costs of these institutions.

This third iteration of the Centres of Excellence Marketplace was opened by Acting Assistant Secretary General – Defence Investment Mr. Robert Weaver and Deputy Chief of Staff Joint Force Development Rear Admiral Placido Torresi. During the afternoon of Wednesday, 22 May, and the morning of Thursday, 23 May, each Centre has the opportunity to showcase contributions made to the Alliance, and for all international staff and international military staff personnel of NATO headquarters to recognize, understand, and embrace the value of the expertise, support, and advice provided by the 29 NATO-accredited Centres.  This is an excellent opportunity for the Centres of Excellence to promote the work and share examples of the products and outputs, such as the Warfare Development Agenda and Multi-Domain Operations, delivered to NATO on behalf of their sponsoring nations.

Additionally, during the morning of Thursday, May 23, each of the 30 NATO Centres of Excellence directors will be invited to attend a dedicated session with Mr. Robert Weaver and Rear Admiral Placido Torresi. Different NATO key topics of interest will be proposed such as Interoperability and Standardization, the NATO Intelligence Enterprise, cooperation with the NATO Army Armament Group, and the NATO Air Force Armament Group work.

Source: The Allied Command Transformation