From 13 to 17 May 2025, the NATO Defence College (NDC) and the Hellenic National Defence College (HNDC) co-organised the 54th NATO Conference of Commandants (CoC 25).
The Conference was attended by 138 Senior Officers, Commandants from NATO member countries, partner nations and representatives from selected NATO bodies and Distinguished Speakers from Greece and abroad.
At the opening of the Conference, the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Dimitrios Houpis, addressed the participants and was honoured with the “Distinguished Ancien” award by the Commander of the NATO Defence College (NDC) Lieutenant General Max A.L.T. Nielsen.
The Conference included:
a. Lectures from Distinguished Speakers such us:
- Mr Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer (Chief Information Officer, NATO HQ)
- Dr Sae Schatz (Executive Director, Partnership for Peace Consortium).
- Ms Christina Leimoni (Director of Marketing & Operations, Microsoft Greece).
- Dr William Barry (Professor of Emerging Technology, United States Army War College)
b. Panel Discussions with the participation of distinguished speakers from abroad and Greece, including lecturers of HNDC, Dr Georgios Nounesis, Director and Chairman of the Board of the National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos” and Dr Evangelos Karkaletsis, Director of the Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications (ITT) at “Demokritos”. Discussion topics were:
- The Integration and Digital Transformation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), key to ensuring the Alliance’s ability to deter and defend in a Multidomain environment.
- Artificial intelligence (AI)’s transformative power and potential in higher military education.
- The practical applications of generative AI in military education.
c. Breakout sessions, discussing key challenges such as:
- Ensure AI systems used in military education, adhere to ethical standards and specific requirements of higher learning
- Integrate AI technologies into existing traing programmes and adequately train military personnel to understand and use these technologies
- The content of the curricula need to evolve to ensure an up-to-date education that leverages AI.
The Sessions were moderated by professors and staff of HNDC.
During the Conference, the Commandant of HNDC had side meetings with several of his, NATO and partner Nations, counterparts.
The programme of the Conference included visits to archaeological sites in Athens (Museum and Sacred Rock of Acropolis), Mycenae and Nafplio, while HNDC hosted a formal dinner in honour of the participants on Thursday 15 May 25.
