The New England Regional Defense Industry Collaboration Think-Tank workshop was held in Devens, Massachusetts on June 13, 2019. Approximately 25 members of the collaboration participated in this event.

The Think-Tank used a scenario planning approach to assist stakeholders in their understanding of the potential implications of various collaborative options and to explore the synergies in adjacent sectors. The Think-Tank provided the opportunity for stakeholders to explore how different futures could impact different locations within the 6 states of the New England Region.

Based on research and key input from members of the Collaboration, themes were identified to become the basis for the two axes of the scenario matrix. Think-Tank participants were presented with the scenario matrix, defined by the two key ‘Future Splitting Questions’, and illustrated by the continuum of each axis. The axes were defined as ‘Collaboration Focus’ and ‘Technical Approach’ Brief descriptions were also attached to the end points of each driver axis.

• Regional collaboration: Creating an intentional focus on region-wide collaborative efforts. Agencies reach across state boundaries seeking larger scale of collaboration. This encourages industry collaboration, both across sectors and within supply chains.
• Multi-disciplinary approach: There is deliberate investment in developing an integrated multi-disciplinary approach to industry technical solutions. Resources are shared between technical clusters, and issues are explored in a systems-wide approach.