International Technology Alliance

The UK and US wish to increase the mutual value of collaboration and have been exploring mechanisms for research collaboration that would create a critical mass of private sector, academic and government scientists, engineers, and facilities/equipment focused on solving the military technology challenges that face coalition forces.

The UK MOD is currently involved in discussions with the US Army Research Laboratory on a new bilateral cooperative technology concept called an International Technology Alliance (ITA). We envision that this would bring together a consortium comprised of industry and academia, on both sides of the Atlantic, in tackling some of the fundamental science underpinning the complex information network issues that will be such a vital facet of future coalition military operations and engage the partners in a collaborative environment to fully exploit the joint development of emerging technologies.

The ITA will be drawing on the MOD's experience with Defence Technology Centres and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's (ARL) Collaborative Technology Alliances (CTA) Programme. The ITA business model will be based heavily on the CTA.

Under the ITA fundamental research will be sought in network theory, security across a system of systems, sensor information processing and delivery, and distributed coalition planning and decision making. Emphasis is on the synergistic combination of these technologies in support of a tactical coalition force. The ITA programme will also provide a mechanism that will allow for the transition of the fundamental research results to military and commercial applications.

A draft ITA Programme Bulletin is expected to be published in early March. There will be two Opportunity Conferences, one in the Washington DC Metro Area on 01 April 2005 and one in London, England on 07 April 2005 in order to prepare consortia of industry and academia from both nations in developing proposals to become participants in the programme.

Additional information on the ITA programme and the Opportunity Conferences will be posted to the website www.usukita.com. The winning consortium will be required to have a balanced trans-Atlantic membership with a strong emphasis on collaboration amongst the members. The ITA programme will be limited to US and UK entities and potential consortium leads are expected to have a significant R & D capability in both nations.

Last Updated: 22 Mar 05