AIDN NSW September Function

Our function this month will include presentations by Autodesk, Cider House ICT, Flight Design and Kinexus:

• ·Autodesk – Sean Manzanares, Senior Industry Manager, Manufacturing Autodesk - Leading the way to the future of manufacturing.Autodesk is driving the development of future design and manufacturing technology to help Defence accelerate product development and deliver substantial benefits in terms of savings, efficiencies and capability. Advanced manufacturing integrates new technology and techniques, like additive manufacturing, to optimize design and manufacturing processes and drive product innovation by making previously impossible designs possible.·
• Cider House ICT – Ray Harvey – “Industry Data Risk Assessment and Case Studies” – An Australian Perspective. This session will delve into our recently compiled Case Studies and Risk Assessments. There is a dearth of detailed information on the cyber situation in Australia, particularly the Defence Supply Chain. However, I’ll be revealing actual data that will be of particular interest to those seeking to identify some of the active risks surrounding data protection. We’ll move through a Risk Assessment report done in the defence supply chain, illuminating some of the highlighted risks with actual Case Studies. This approach will assist you with visualising the nature of these risks, as well as some of the ways they may be employed against you. I will also share with you a questionnaire designed to aid in assessing your level of cyber readiness. This questionnaire is built around the more important security aspects that disqualify SMEs from Supply-Chain Participation. It should be used to identify areas of weakness that require additional work to remediate or improve. 

• ·Flight Design – Robert Brand – Flight Design has grown from 10 years of international balloon flights to the stratosphere. It supplies both Defence and industry with a range of aerospace services including: stabilised balloon payload flights; photography flights; sensor testing over land and water; drone release from High Altitude; and drone design and flight equipment for long range flights. Long Persistence balloons with propulsion are undergoing tests and initial systems are expected to produce flights of 2 weeks duration with the ability to hold position or travel up to 1,000km in daylight hours. Testing of future systems will see materials that could last for 2 years in flight. Flight Design is currently working on a high-altitude stealth aircraft of only 4m long that can maintain flight levels of about 18km during daylight hours and a second delta winged aircraft that utilises a small jet engine that is expected to produce supersonic flight.

• ·Kinexus – Robert Kremer – Robert is a formal naval officer who has spent the last 17 years in defence industry as a specialist workforce consultant and adviser. He is the leader of Australia’s largest defence industry recruitment and workforce insights team and is committed to educating industry and government of the risks and opportunities that he sees as inherent in the ongoing significant growth in the defence sector workforce. Rob will share findings from Kinexus’ upcoming Defence Industry Insights 8^th Edition, framed to help employers understand the challenges and opportunities in the defence sector labour market, including: Defence industry workforce supply and demand; Salary changes and EVP trends; Workforce expectations and intentions; and trends effecting recruitment and retention.