[L – R] Col Pierre Bouvier, Defense Cooperation Attaché (Embassy of France); ICA / Colonel (Acquisition) Sébastien Pauly, Deputy Defense Cooperation Attaché – Army, Navy, Special Forces, Cyber, and Joint, Embassy of France; Col Franck Bilau, Head of International Cooperation Unit (AID); Ryan McAlinden, Director for Defense & Intelligence Initiatives, USC UCT; Dr. Randall Hill, Executive Director, ICT; MG Aufort, Director of the French Defense Innovation Agency; Sharon Mozgai, Director, Virtual Human Therapeutics Lab (VHTL); David Nelson, Director, Mixed Reality (MxR) Lab; Col Sebastien de Peyret, Armed Forces Deputy to the Director (AID).
The USC Institute for Creative Technologies, a Department of Defense University Affiliated Research Center (UARC), was honored to welcome MG Patrick Aufort, Director of the French Defense Innovation Agency (DIA), during his visit to the United States. While at ICT, MG Aufort received briefings from Dr. Randall Hill, Executive Director, and Ryan McAlinden, Director for Defense & Intelligence Initiatives, before a short tour of our labs, during which David Nelson, Director, Mixed Reality (MxR) Lab, and Dr. Benjamin Nye, Director for Learning Sciences, gave presentations on their latest research.
MG Patrick Aufort was appointed Deputy Director of the Defense Innovation Agency (AID) on October 1, 2020, then Director on March 15, 2023, having served for 26 years within Armament General Directorate (DGA, Direction Générale de l’Armement) of the French Ministry of Defense. Previously, he was director of DGA Engineering and Integration from 2018 to 2020 and director of DGA Aero-Engine Testing from 2015 to 2018, dedicated to engineering support and program management for a wide range of aeronautical acquisition programs. Previous roles include head of the aircraft mission department at the management unit for aeronautical armament operations, program manager for the Maritime Patrol Aircraft, program manager for Air Command and Control Systems, Engineering manager for the French Hawkeye, Chief Engineer for the French AWACS and Technical Advisor in Electronic Warfare operations. Patrick Aufort graduated as an engineer in both robotics and data processing from UPMC Paris VI University, France (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, UPMC, PARIS). He became a military engineer (armament corps) after a competitive examination in 2008. He is a Legion of Honour knight and an officer of the National Order of Merit.
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