Lessons from private-public partnerships – from the Manhattan Project to the birth of Silicon Valley – and how they apply to issues related to online security will be the subject of the opening session of the 2012 Complex Adaptive Systems Conference next month in Washington, D.C.

Cyber security expert Robert D. Rodriguez, founder of Security Innovation Network (SINET), will deliver the Complex Adaptive Systems Conference‘s opening plenary address, “Looking Back to Advance the Future,” at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14.

The annual Complex Adaptive Systems conference, sponsored by Missouri University of Science and Technology, will be held Nov. 14-16 at the Washington Dulles Airport Marriott.

“In the dynamic and infantile world of the internet we must continue to innovate, embrace change, lead change, re-evaluate risk and learn from past public-private partnership models that have been successful,” says Rodriguez.

Citing the Manhattan Project and Silicon Valley as examples of successful partnerships between government and business, Rodriguez adds that similar collaborations could effectively address cyber security issues.

“Cyber security touches everything and the ‘Beltway’ has an opportunity to lead change,” he says. “As a nation, both industry and government must continue to innovate or our national security and status as the world’s most innovative country will be at risk.

The annual international conference features research presentations on computational intelligence, big data analytics, intelligent energy systems (known as the “smart grid”), biologically inspired intelligent computing and related topics. It is led by conference chair Dr. Cihan H. Dagli, a professor of engineering management and systems engineering and director of the Smart Engineering Systems Laboratory at Missouri S&T.

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., whose 8th Congressional District in Missouri includes Rolla, the home of Missouri S&T, will welcome participants to the conference. In addition to Rodriguez’s presentation about the importance of public-private partnerships, the conference will feature presentations by these leaders in complex systems:

• Haden Land, vice president and chief technology officer for Lockheed Martin, who will discuss the opportunities and challenges in the complex adaptive systems field. His presentation is titled “Advanced Innovation Is Indistinguishable from Magic.”
• John A. Norris, chief technology and regulatory officer for Health Discovery Group, who will speak on “Industry-led True Reform of the U.S. Healthcare Delivery System.”
• Dr. Ralph Martinez, director of energy initiatives and a professor at the University of Texas-El Paso, who will speak on “Cross-cutting Domain Challenges and Solutions in Smart Grids.”
• Viswa Sharma, senior solutions architect for Tata Consulting Services, who will address “big data” analytics in a presentation titled “Hadoop Beyond Hype.”
• Karr W. Farrell, vice president for strategy and business development for Kestrel Information Solutions, a part of Boeing Network and Space Systems. Farrell will discuss big data challenges affecting business practices.

In addition to Missouri S&T, sponsors for the conference include Lockheed Martin, Mocana, Tata Consultancy Services, GAK3, Drexel University Online and Hark.