The Trench-to-Tech Approach to Innovation

During the chapter's December PD Luncheon, attendees heard from Lt. Col. Marie-Pierre Raymond (Ret.), Defence Scientist of the IDEaS Program. Her session, From Trench to Tech: How Ukraine's Innovation Flywheel Inspires Canada's C&E Future, offered a unique opportunity to explore the intersection of emerging technologies, battlefield innovation and the urgent pace of capability development in conflict zones. Drawing from her deployment to Ukraine, Raymond shared firsthand insights into innovation at the speed of war-particularly in the domains of small and FPV drones, electronic warfare and demining. She provided actionable insights to accelerate Canadian defence innovation in the C&E domain. Key recommendations included developing modular systems with open architectures, adopting software-defined capabilities, conducting edge experimentation with engineers working alongside operators and establishing agile supply chains.
She emphasized that to survive in times of war, innovation can no longer be viewed solely as a lab capability.

Event Photographs: