Where Lives are at Stake

Fostering More Resilient and Safer Organisations

Safety critical industries and organizations face continuous, often rapid and disruptive change in an environment of increasing digitisation of activities, an unstable geo-political and legal context, and more digitally-savant recruits and workforce. In this context it is vital that all employees as individuals and in teams can adapt effectively and resiliently to the unexpected to minimise risk and maximise workforce and business performance. Their leaders must innovate to cost effectively prepare workforces for the future whilst maintaining current operations. STRS looks to support workforce leaders through building and sharing best practice in simulation and training across safety critical high risk industries and organisations and help them develop and sustain their workforce’s knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Are We There Yet? Looking Ahead to the 2020s

Attending training and ICT conferences and exhibitions there seem to be a plethora of new and innovative approaches to training and training-related technologies. Some have been in gestation for many years, others a rebranding of older concepts, but there are also genuinely new areas of interest. The STRS Newsletter aims to keep its readers informed of the latest developments particularly where lessons learned can be shared across the STRS readership. In our online newsletter we will look in detail at current trends that may impact simulation and training in the decade ahead. Looking ahead, wider developments in ICT may have the potential to make the delivery of training more flexible and deployable through technologies such as 5G, hybrid cloud and edge computing.  Simulation visual and audio capabilities will continue to improve and interfaces such as VR will enhance flexibility and cost effectiveness (more later in this newsletter). Training will also be monitored in new ways through eye tracking, wearables and other non-intrusive physiological sensors.  These approaches will lead potentially to improved data analytics so we can better measure and assess training. Together with improved data, AI also offers the prospect of personalised training, virtual coaches and improved simulations.  Blockchain technology may in future support improved management of HR and training data so that data is managed both on pan-enterprise basis and supporting through-life individual career management. Digital twin approaches may offer improved human factors’ assessment, perhaps even reducing or simplifying training.  Lastly, there is much to learn from online gaming, both in terms of how they impact on recruits and also how they manage player data and support the gaming communities and drive wider innovation. Some of the aforementioned technologies may not have a significant impact on simulation and training but even if some of the promises are fulfilled then the world could look quite different at the end of the next decade.