IB Consultancy - Experts & Thought Leaders

The event to provide a forum for armed forces, government agencies, civil first responders to discuss crucial challenges of CBRNe threats For the second year in a row IB Consultancy, is calling for papers to be presented during the Non-Conventional Threat (NCT) CBRNe USA 2016 conference. NCT CBRNe USA 2016 will take place in Washington DC, 3 – 5 May 2016, providing a forum for armed forces, government agencies, civil first responders and the industry to discuss crucial challenges of CBRNe threats. NCT innovation stream The submissions for the Call for Papers will be part of the Innovation Stream, which is running in parallel with the Conference Stream. Innovative companies, as well as academic/governmental research institutes, think tanks, companies, end-users, are kindly invited to submit abstracts to the NCT Scientific Committee, presenting their latest research results, best practices and/or innovative ideas within the following topics: 1. Countering WMD Proliferation and CBRN Terrorism 2. Next Generation Biodefense Solutions 3. Development of new technologies and products for Decontamination Application deadlines The deadline for the submission of the abstracts is the 15th of February 2016. Accepted candidates will be asked to send their final Paper by the 3rd of April 2016. The NCT Scientific Committee, chaired by Mr. Guy Roberts, Principal Consultant at IB Consultancy and former Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy at NATO, will select proposed presentations based on the following criteria: relevance, novelty, soundness, potential impact and practical interest to the CBRNe community. “We are excited to welcome again the most novel researchers and practitioners to Washington DC to present their ideas and research results in the field of CBRN. The valuable papers presented in our previous edition demonstrated the significant contribution of innovative projects in countering emerging CBRNe threats which was confirmed by the outstanding feedback of attending delegations to last year’s presenters” said Ilja Bonsen, Managing Director of IB Consultancy. The NCT CBRNe USA conference will provide a forum to discuss current and imminent themes in the field of CBRN, focusing on the American perspective on the requirements of international CBRN defense, CBRN operations in a military environment, threat mitigation and decontamination, international threat reduction, critical infrastructure and urban security – challenges for CBRN detection, nuclear and radiation monitoring and surveillance, mass diagnosis and forensics, as well as CBRN preparedness and protection.

The Awards will be presented on the first day of NCT CBRNe Asia, at a party hosted by IB Consultancy in Bangkok In 2015, IB Consultancy will celebrate the third edition of the NCT CBRNe Awards – the awards for both the CBRNe industry and I(N)GO community. As each year, a distinguished jury voted for the best and most end-user friendly CBRNe solution, the most innovative product developed during the last year, and the international stakeholder that contributed significantly to national, regional and/or international CBRNe capability building. The NCT CBRNe Awards 2015 will be handed out during NCT CBRNe Asia in Bangkok (10-12 November) – the largest and leading CBRNe event in Asia. For this very special occasion, IB Consultancy will host the NCT CBRNe Awards Party under the sky of Bangkok, at the Cloud 47 sky bar. Now it is the right time to celebrate this year’s nominees that have been judged by a distinguished jury comprising of: Guy Roberts (Former) Deputy Assistant Secretary General for WMD Police, NATO; Lt. Gen. Yugala, Royal Thai Army; Dr. Zalini Zunus, STRIDE/Malaysia; Brig. Gen. JB Burton, Former Commander of the U.S. Army 20th CBRN Command; Laurent Olmedo, CEA/France; Stephen Malone, HDIAC/USA; David Oliver, CBNW/UK; and Ilja Bonsen, IB Consultancy/the Netherlands. For three years now, this formidable mix of expertise insures the quality and excellence of the NCT CBRNe Awards. Along with the three Awards handed out by the jury, the NCT CBRNe Community Awards are granted by the CBRNe community to a company, person or an organisation which has illustrated itself in bringing benefits to CBRNe end-users or had an impact on the CBRNe capabilities of a country, region, or group of countries in a cost-efficient manner. This constitutes a rare opportunity for members of the CBRNe community to assess peer recognition. The nominees: NCT CBRNe Product Award The NCT CBRNe Product Award for the best CBRNe product, service or solution is the most prestigious NCT CBRNe Award, and is the overall award for excellence in the CBRNe community. The NCT CBRNe Product Award forthe best CBRNe product, service orsolution is the most prestigiousNCT CBRNe Award, and is theoverall award for excellence in theCBRNe community The nominees for this year’s NCT CBRNe Product Award 2015 are: SAAB’s ‘ManPack300’ Training and Simulation system that provides the perfect solution for overcoming challenges in CBRNe response training; 908 Device’s ‘M908’ handheld detection device that was already a nominee last year in the innovation award category and the jury decided that it deserved to be nominated now as an established and end-user friendly state of the art product; and iRobot’s ‘510 PackBot CBRNe’ for providing first responders with real-time situational and incident data and its track record of more than 5,700 mobile robots that have been delivered to 38 nations and greater than 100 law enforcement agencies, emergency and hazardous material responders worldwide. NCT CBRNe Innovation Award The NCT CBRNe Innovation Award for the most novel product, service or research paper of the year is the prize rewarding outstanding achievement in the field of Research & Development. It is the award for excellence in innovation. This year’s nominees in the innovation award category are: BBI Detection’s ‘UK Ebola Lateral Flow Device’, described by the jury as an innovation that arrives just at the right time to tackle urgent challenges in effective Ebola Virus Disease control and rapid case detection; ‘Alldecont’ developed by the Central Institute of the Bundeswehr Medical Service that - on the basis of recent tests - is the only product on the market that rapidly removes after skin contact chemical and biological substances; and Passport System’s ‘SmartsShield’ radiation detection system that according to the jury shows great promise by approaching the detection problem at a system level and by delivering increased capabilities at the same or lower cost than traditional point detector approaches. NCT CBRNe Capability Award The NCT CBRNe Capability Award is the award for a country or organisation that has improved its CBRNe capability or has initiated or executed a capability development programme impacting upon another country or organisation. The 2015 NCT CBRNe Capability Award nominees are: the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) & U.S. Department of Health & Human Services that will provide $12 million over the next five years to three US medical centres which together will co-lead the National Ebola Training and Education Center; ECBC and JPEO-CBD’s ‘JUPITR ATD’ program that will provide unique biological detection capabilities addressing the demand for stronger biosurveillance capabilities in the Korean Peninsula; and the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) that has celebrated its 50 years jubilee this year as one of the region’s leading CBRNe civil response force.

NCT CBRNe USA 2015 was this year’s place to be for meeting the country’s leading decision-makers NCT CBRNe USA 2015: Setting a benchmark for high-quality CBRN events of the future Giving an alternative to old-fashioned CBRN forums where stakeholders meet the same people and colleagues over and over again each year, NCT events are renowned for their high quality when it comes to international CBRN forums and to creating an interactive, intercultural CBRN community. However, NCT CBRNe USA 2015, the most recent member of the NCT CBRNe event series organised in cooperation with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), established a whole new level of event quality. Taking place at the Sheraton Reston Hotel from April 29 to May 1 in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area and therewith the heart of the United States, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 was this year’s place to be for meeting the country’s leading decision-makers. Including two live demonstrations, workshops with leading CBRN researchers and scientists, as well as an outstandingly high-level conference program, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 attracted the ‘crème de la crème’ of the US CBRN community: from Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins (Department of State) to Brig. Gen. JB Burton (U.S. Army 20th CBRN Command), CDR Franca Jones (Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for CB Defense) and Carmen J. Spencer (JPEO-CBD), the high-level of attendance was unprecedented for a public CBRN event. Interactive training and display of the Fairfax County Hazardous Material Response Team The concept of NCT CBRNe USA 2015 was highly interactive: starting with a display and introduction of one of the country’s most sophisticated local Hazardous Material Response Teams (HMRT), the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, delegates were able to touch base with the whole response team. Captain Mark Nash from the Fairfax HMRT gave outstanding insights in their response SOPs and available equipment. He explained their detection and monitoring capabilities, dressing capabilities, sampling, evidence collection and their approaches and equipment for the decontamination of personnel and citizens – for many delegates an outstanding opportunity to get a first-hand overview of the sophisticated capabilities of first responders dealing in first place with a CBRN incident. NCT CBRNe this year had two live demonstrations, workshops with leading CBRN researchers and scientists, as well as an outstandingly high-level conference program The Conference and ‘Innovation Stream’: A place for networking of outstanding quality and diversity The following two-day conference and workshops followed this interactive principle by assembling each single U.S. Department involved in CBRN response and respective homeland security activities (DoD, HHS, DHS, DoS, DoE). They brought with them their expert agencies such as NNSA, EPA, JPEO-CBD, ECBC, DTRA, and FDA. Political leaders such as His Excellency Prof. Dr. Aung Kyaw Myat (Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of Myanmar) and Senator Michael Balboni then lifted the whole event to another level and could be met in person on a coffee throughout the event at the VIP lounge. Topics discussed included the State Department’s international CBRNe threat reduction activities, measures introduced to help mitigate the risk of nuclear terrorism such as NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD), DTRA’s capability development for CBRN defense and the JUPITR ATD Program in Korea. However, stakeholders primarily dealing with CBRN issues are still the nation’s Armed Forces, most of all the U.S. Army’s 20th CBRN Command represented by Brig. Gen. JB Burton. Together with the presentation of CDR Franca Jones (Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for CB Defense) and Lt. Aaron Jozsef (U.S. Coast Guard), his presentation gave an outstanding introduction into CBRN defense approaches as well as the respective transformation of requirements for CBRN defense on the battlefield. Topics discussed included the State Department’s international CBRNe threat reduction activities, measures introduced to help mitigate the risk of nuclear terrorism In addition, representatives of local first responders from Florida, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, New Jersey and many others shared their expertise and case-studies either as speakers or attending delegates. This included overviews of the Cities Readiness Initiative (Stephanie Anspaugh-Naples, Florida Department of Health), the role of Public Health Laboratories in CBRN Crisis Management (Maureen Sullivan, Minnesota Department of Health), and CBRN response capabilities on the local level such as in Montgomery County Battalion Chief Christopher Feder (Montgomery HMRT). State of the Art of such civil CBRN response measures available was shown off in an outstanding live-demonstration of the ASPECT Program (Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For 90 minutes, EPA showcased for the first time live the transmission and analysis of data received from their respective aircraft based in Texas and thereby offered attending delegates to sit down with them behind their computer and simulate a live CBRN incident scenario. Political leaders, military experts and local first responders were joined by outstanding researchers in the event’s ‘Innovation Stream’. For these workshops, leading scientists from all over the world were nominated after a call for papers from an official committee including representatives from DoS, HHS, the Homeland Defense and Security Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). Within an interactive workshop setting they gave an outstanding overview of how science and research can assist in international CBRN response and risk management. Political leaders, military experts and local first responders were joined by outstanding researchers in the event’s ‘Innovation Stream’ From ISIS use of social media to preparedness for the next infectious disease, scenario-based training or the rapid detection of processed uranium in food, the array of presented studies was big. The line-up of more than 40 speakers in both the conference and the ‘Innovation Stream’ was rounded up by Dr. Ellen Jorgensen from Genspace, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to promoting citizen science and access to biotechnology. Giving an introduction during the conference of what DiY biohacking can offer, she provided another stand-point of how science now provides potential terrorists with new opportunities, but how it can contribute to better preparedness, public health and response. Establishing innovation and quality in public CBRN shows: mission accomplished! By assembling leading politicians, Armed Forces, civil first responder agencies and diverse researchers in an innovative networking setting, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 accomplished its mission to establish a new kind of events that actually introduces international actors and ground-breaking experts in order to create a larger and interactive CBRN community. Communication is key, which is why the open exchange of expertise within a wide array of qualified and innovative experts, decision-makers and procurement stakeholders is necessary to better fight the threat of CBRN in the future. With its very first edition, NCT CBRNe USA 2015 already has an outstanding track record within the internationally successful NCT events series.