Industry, government and university in the defense business world of today

The roundtable's opening address was given by Dr. James F. Albaugh, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems and Executive Vice President of The Boeing Company. Dr Albaugh alerted the gathering to the lack of young talent in the aerospace and high tech industries. He also underlined the gap between Europe and the United States in the defense industry and public allocations for acquisitions and research in the sector. In 2005, EU countries spent 35 billion dollars in arms investments compared to the 103 billion spent by the US. Moreover, Europe spent 11.8 billion dollars for research and development while the United States spent 71 billion. The difference in access to technologies also creates obstacles to cooperation and interoperability.