The 2025 International Defence Excellence and Security Symposium (IDEaS) was held on 8 September 2025 at EUROCONTROL’s headquarters in Brussels. Aero EDIH is represented by Rasmus Lundqvist, RISE, and Jan-Olof Ehk, NOSP.
The symposium brought together experts from defence, industry and academia to exchange ideas and foster collaboration on innovations in defence and security. The main theme was “Best of Both Worlds: Human-AI Teaming for Effective Decision-Making”, which addressed the collaboration between human personnel and artificial intelligence (AI) in command and control (C2) decisions.
The discussions highlighted the challenges of creating reliable AI systems in complex and dynamic environments, where data can be uncertain or unreliable, particularly in areas such as robotic defence systems and air and missile defence. The focus was on the need for mutual trust between humans and AI to ensure decision superiority, information dominance and improved surveillance and training systems.
The symposium highlighted the importance of robust and reliable AI support systems to enable effective human-machine teams in military decision-making and operations (https://ieeeideas.org). The event brought together leading decision-makers, researchers and developers who presented and discussed advanced concepts and technologies for future defence where AI and autonomy play a central role in strengthening command and control functions.
