Event Summary

USIP's Center of Innovation for Science, Technology and Peacebuilding hosted a full-day multimedia showcase of state-of-the-art simulation and "serious gaming" tools that promise to transform the way that peacebuilding organizations train, plan and collaborate. The "Smart Tools for Smart Power" event featured presentations from such innovators as IBM, the Army War College, EBay, Lockheed Martin, Second Life, and USIP's own Education and Training Center.  U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer Beth Noveck presented the keynote address, in which she noted that the Obama administration sees "serious" games as an important, largely untapped way to enable innovation in government and civic engagement.

•  A video archive of the event is available here
• Find out more about the Smart Tools for Smart Power initiative

The event explored how the latest online and scenario-driven simulations and 3D virtual environments can be applied to sharpen decision-making skills and lay the foundation for more effective peace operations, negotiation, and cooperation. Attendees at USIP's Washington, D.C. headquarters were given hands-on demonstrations of state-of-the-art tools, some with current application to conflict management and some to inspire new ideas for the peacebuilding community.

The event also engaged more than 300 online participants from 24 countries as varied as Kenya, Spain, Mauritania, Israel, and Brazil using various online social media. Many of them participated in an active parallel discussion and Q&A with presenters, through chat and social networking platforms like Twitter, where some 30 users discussed the event's proceedings throughout the day.

The event -- conducted in collaboration with Lockheed Martin's Center of Innovation and Eastern Mennonite University's 3D Security Initiative -- also marked the beginning of an unprecedented public-private innovation partnership.

Going forward, USIP's "Smart Tools for Smart Power" initiative aims to help all organizations that seek to mitigate violent conflict take full advantage of the most cutting-edge simulations, analytics, serious games and other technology-enabled decision-support and collaboration tools.

This event is part of the Center’s ongoing “Smart Tools for Smart Power” initiative to identify cutting-edge technologies that may enable peacebuilding organizations to better prevent and resolve violent conflict through data-driven decision-making, information sharing, analytics, and online collaboration.

If you would like more information about the initiative, please contact Joel Whitaker (jwhitaker@usip.org) and Anand Varghese (avarghese1@usip.org).

The “Smart Tools for Smart Power” initiative is led by the US Institute of Peace’s Center of Innovation for Science, Technology and Peacebuilding, co-sponsored by USIP’s Education and Training Center and Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations, in partnership with the 3D Security Initiative of Eastern Mennonite University and Lockheed Martin’s Center for Innovation.

Morning session:

• Beth Noveck, Keynote
  Deputy Chief Technology Officer, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Jason Dechant
  Strategy, Forces and Resources Division, Institute for Defense Analyses
• Charlie Hargraves
  3D Immersive Virtual Environment Program, Lockheed Martin
• Jon Wilkenfeld
  Director, Center for International Development and Conflict Management, University of Maryland
• Steve York and Ivan Marovic
  “A Force More Powerful,” York Zimmerman

 Afternoon session

• Scott Sechser
  Second Life, Linden Lab
• Col. Philip Evans
  Director, Operations & Gaming Division, U.S. Army War College
• Skip Cole
  Senior Program Officer, Education and Training Center, U.S. Institute of Peace
• Colin Rule
  Director, Online Dispute Resolution, EBay
• Michael Martine
  Director of Strategy & Planning, IBM
• Sheldon Himelfarb, Moderator
  Associate Vice President, Center of Innovation for Science, Technology, and Peacebuilding, U.S. Institute of Peace
• Lisa Schirch, Moderator
  Director, 3D Security Initiative, Eastern Mennonite University