On Thursday 25th and Friday 26th of September 2025 the UNMANNED_X symposium will be held in The Hague. KNVTS and KIVI have joined forces again to support gifted speaker and author Rui Costa in organizing this exclusive event.

To maintain a decisive edge in an increasingly contested and technologically dynamic battlefield, our defence ecosystems must evolve beyond traditional defence innovation mechanisms. This will entail developing a culture of rapid innovation, disruption and adaptability – one that can adapt to emerging threats in real-time, and harness commercial, academic and end-user experience and networks.

UNMANNED_X is a two-day get-together of end-users, front-runners in the industry and the academical world to connect, learn, provide insights and share knowledge on the full width of unmanned systems in the current and future battlespaces.

These two days renowned speakers from USA, UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Ukraine and -of course- The Netherlands will be guiding us through topics in four streams:

DAY 1 Surface & Subsurface:

  • W. Carmelo Fontán, CEO & Owner, Presteza LLC, (Former NSWC CTO)
  • Bas Buchner, Programme Director Maritime Uncrewed Systems RNLN, Koninklijke Marine
  • Paul Heiden, CEO, Optics11 – Fiber optic sensing solutions
  • Bob De Reus, 3D Printing Engineer, Royal3D
  • Jeroen van de Sande, Senior Research Scientist, TNO
  • Elias Wästberg, Business Development, Nautrik
  • Thomas Rooney, General Manager, Marine AI
  • Aranya Mitra, Head of Marine Operations, MSubs Ltd
  • Mark Pronk, Senior Sales Manager, Kongsberg Discovery

DAY 2 Land & Air:

  • Joost Vreeken, MBA, BEng, Program Lead ‘Unmanned and Autonomous’, NLR – Netherlands Aerospace Centre
  • Bram Alkema, Vice President External Affairs, DeltaQuad
  • Klementyna Melanich, CEO, Awedyne
  • Nataliia Kushnerska, COO, Roboneers
  • Wouter Van Beek, Chief Commercial Officer, Destinus
  • Nanda van der Stap, Product Manager Autonomy, Milrem Robotics
  • Miel Van Den Brekel, Business Development, Intelic (formerly Avalor AI)
  • Marc C L.ange, Strategic Advisor, 2 Ventures
  • Philipp Enzinger, Founder, Scipio

Thanks to our main sponsor OPTICS11 and co-sponsor Royal3D and with support of Van Storm we can provide you with this opportunity to connect and stay connected through the UNMANNED_X platform.

Language: English

Date: September 25 and 26, 2025

Hall open: 8:00

Start: 9:00

End: 18:00

Location: Royal Institute of Engineers – KIVI, Prinsessegracht 23, The Hague

Accessible for: All interested

Contribution: € 80,- (participation fee, including beverages, bites, lunches and networking drinks) to be paid through the sign up form.

Sign up: http://forms.gle/5D9QtEcuTJRdGFrt9
We can allow for 100 participants, don’t be too late!