Nestled in Città Militare della Cecchignola (The Military City) in the Laurentina District of Rome, Italy between the Italian C4ISR General Staff and the NATO Defense College is the NATO Modelling and Simulation (M&S) Centre of Excellence (COE).

With Italy as the Framework nation and several nations either already members or contemplating membership, the COE is predicted to be a highly successful and contributing Alliance asset.

"This COE is one of the linchpins of our Innovation effort within Allied Command Transformation (ACT)," said ACT Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral (VADM) Tony Johnstone-Burt during a recent whirlwind tour of the Centre. He went on to say that "ACT sees this COE as vital as well in the Transformation of the Alliance." After reviewing the COE Program of Work (POW) during an active discussion, Johnstone-Burt reminded the COE that HQ SACT staff is available to assist the Centre with coordination and their Requests for Support. Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation's (HQ SACT) mentor to the COE, Mr Wayne Buck, assisted in explaining the POW and indicated those particular areas where HQ SACT stands ready to assist the COE.

During a tour of the "Control Room," Johnstone-Burt viewed advanced simulation technology used to prepare staff for operations. He asked the leadership how Industry fit into the picture of preparing the simulations and verifying the results. "Industry is involved in every step of our journey and is in fact embedded in our centre," stated Brigadier General Giuseppe Gimondo, the COE Flag sponsor. The company Finmeccanica has been supporting the Centre with technical staff and process-building since the beginning.

The COE is currently involved in supporting ACT in several projects, including one aimed at determining whether serious games might allow the NDC to significantly enhance their curriculum. The project known as "Strategic Decision Making Training through Serious Games," is led by HQ SACT and has as partners the M&S COE as well as the University of Genoa Simulation Team.