iscover
Australia’s accelerating push to embed digital engineering in Defence will be the focus of a major national gathering in Canberra this November.
The 2nd Australian Digital Engineering Summit, hosted by UNSW Canberra, will run from 24–25 November at the National Convention Centre, with workshops and training sessions at UNSW’s Canberra City campus.
Building on the strong uptake of the inaugural 2023 event, the summit will bring together senior Defence officials, government representatives, industry leaders and academics to address the challenges of delivering capability in a rapidly evolving threat environment.
The program will focus on integrating digital engineering across Defence programs and platforms from design to sustainment, with an emphasis on systems thinking, data-driven decision making and full life cycle visibility.
Professor Sondoss El Sawah, director of the Capability Systems Centre and UNSW Canberra Digital Engineering lead, said the growing complexity of Defence priorities demands a fundamental shift in approach.
“The last few years have driven a massive acceleration in how organisations approach technology and capability delivery; Defence is no different,” El Sawah said.
“Digital engineering gives us the technical edge but it also forces us to think differently about culture, workforce and collaboration. This is a strategic shift and we need to align people, process and technology to make it real.”
She said the discipline is already transforming capability design and assurance across sectors, including aerospace, energy, telecommunications and cyber security, and that Defence can draw on frameworks such as the National Digital Engineering Strategy.
The summit will feature keynote addresses from Defence leaders, industry specialists and researchers, alongside strategic panels exploring digital engineering in major projects, emerging technologies and workforce development.
Day two will offer optional workshops and technical masterclasses, giving participants practical experience in applying digital engineering to complex programs.
A major highlight will be the launch of DORY, an AI-driven platform developed by UNSW Canberra to enable real-time knowledge exchange in digital engineering. DORY will engage directly with delegates, providing live insights, answering queries and fostering global collaboration.
El Sawah said collaboration is key to making digital engineering work across Defence and industry.
“There’s a strong appetite across the sector to engage on this,” she said. “The conversations are already happening – we’re helping to coordinate them.”
