Sponsors




The SMART CITY 2035 Technology Challenge
Over the past year, the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Directorate of Science and Technology (S&T) Futures and UK Strategic Command (UKStratCom) have fostered dynamic collaboration by placing strategic thinkers and operators from U.S. and U.K. government and military organizations alongside cutting-edge technology researchers, academics, entrepreneurs, and industry engineers. By confronting them with formidable challenges, futuristic operational scenarios, and aggressive deadlines, this initiative has driven the pursuit of high-risk, high-reward technology capabilities. These efforts aim to ensure a decisive edge in the complex and evolving operational landscapes of the Smart City in 2035.
A Gamified Joint Military Hostage Rescue Mission in 2035
A Joint USSOCOM and UKStratCom military hostage rescue operation in a smart city within an adversarial country involves challenges across six key operational focus areas.
Signature management is crucial, as avoiding detection in a densely monitored environment requires minimizing electronic footprints and maintaining stealth against both adversary and civilian surveillance systems. Human-machine communications must ensure reliable integration of unmanned systems, protect against signal interference and hacking, and enable real-time coordination between human operatives and autonomous technologies. The complexity of maritime and subterranean maneuver is amplified in smart cities with extensive underground networks and waterfronts, requiring teams to navigate tunnels, canals, and barriers often controlled by automated systems.
Demonstrations | Experiments | Tests Concepts
This event will demonstrate capabilities that address a non-permissive future operating environment in a Smart City in the year 2035. To develop scenarios that realistically address the potential challenges of this environment as well as the capabilities needed by Special Operations Forces (SOF) in the Smart City, we discussed the ways in which technology advances might be developed and implemented in a surveillance environment, and the operational processes and challenges that will shape the adversary’s ability to build this surveillance infrastructure. The goal is to demonstrate capabilities that will keep SOF teams “left of adversary tech” as we expect it to be in 2035.
LOCATION | UCL PEARL FACILITY
A unique, flexible facility to explore ways in which people interact with their environment. The Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory (PEARL) offers an extensively customisable laboratory space, to engage and study the senses. Lighting, sound, smell and physical features can all be controlled to create unique, real-scale experiences, test environments and study the brain and senses.

UCL PEARL Facility, Yew Tree Drive, Dagenham RM10, UK
Threat detection is essential to identify adversaries using asymmetric tactics, such as blending with civilians or deploying drones, while pinpointing hostage locations amid potential decoys or misinformation. The ability to sense and understand the environment relies on interpreting vast streams of data from IoT devices and surveillance networks to gain real-time intelligence, distinguish civilians from combatants, and navigate cultural sensitivities to minimize collateral damage. Finally, autonomy in planning is critical for dynamic mission adaptation, leveraging automated systems for reconnaissance, route optimization, and logistical support in a highly complex and rapidly evolving urban battlefield. These interrelated challenges demand advanced technology, robust planning, and specialized training to ensure mission success in the adversary-controlled smart city.