The NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) is the primary NATO organization for Defence Science and Technology. Its intent is to maintain NATO's scientific and technological advantage by generating, sharing and utilizing advanced scientific knowledge, technological developments and innovation to support the alliance's core tasks.

Organization 
The Science and Technology Organization (STO) is a NATO subsidiary body created within the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington in 1949.

The STO provides scientific innovation, advice and solutions to meet NATO's needs through the work of collaborative panels and an executive body that are each composed of well known scientists and experts from NATO and Partner nations.  

The STO operates under the authority of the North Atlantic Council which has delegated the operations of the STO to a Board of Directors (the S&T Board – STB) comprising the NATO Nations S&T managers. The STB is chaired by the NATO Chief Scientist who is a high-level recognized S&T leader of a NATO Nation, being permanently assigned to the NATO Headquarters in Brussels and also serving as the senior scientific advisor to the NATO leadership

The STO is composed of the STB, the Chief Scientist and the following three executive bodies:

 The Office of the Chief Scientist (based in NATO HQ, Brussels, Belgium) providing executive and administrative support to the Chief Scientist in exercising his/her three roles as STB Chairperson, Scientific Advisor and head of the Office
 The Collaboration Support Office (based in Paris, France) providing executive and administrative support to the activities conducted in the framework of the Collaborative business model and its level2 committees and level 3 groups
 The Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (based in La Spezia, Italy) organizing and conducting scientific research and technology development and deliver innovative and field tested S&T solutions to address the defence and security needs of the Alliance. Its mission is centered on the maritime domain but it may extrapolate to other domains to meet customers’ demands.

History

From AGARD to RTO 
The Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) was formed in 1952 and became an agency under the Military Committee in 1966. Its task was to foster and improve the interchange of information relating to aerospace research and development between the NATO nations. AGARD also provided scientific and technical advice and assistance to the NATO Military Committee in the field of aerospace research and development, with particular regard to military applications.

In a mission statement in the 1982 History it published, the purpose involved "bringing together the leading personalities of the NATO nations in the fields of science and technology relating to aerospace".

The founder and first chairman of AGARD, Dr. Theodore von Kármán, had dedicated his life to the enhancement of understanding and co-operation among scientists of different nations. In 1958 von Kármán hired Moe Berg to accompany him to the AGARD conference in Paris. "AGARD's aim was to encourage European countries to develop weapons technology on their own instead of relying on the U.S. defense industry to do it for them´.

AGARD originally started in 1952 with four Panels (Combustion, Aero-Medicine, Flight Test and Instrumentation, and Wind Tunnel and Model Testing).

Von Kármán had a direct personal interest in the Panels - based on his life-long scientific work and his association with the military - and he gave them his guidance.

At the beginning, there were less than 100 Panel members. Their number grew rapidly to 200 in 1960 and with the expansion to 9 Panels in 1970, there were more than 500 Panel members in the 1990s. After a restructuring in 1994 the number of Panels was reduced to 7, plus a Technical Information Committee (TIC).

Panel members were appointed by their respective National Delegates, normally for a term of 3 years. The detailed areas of interest of each Panel varied rapidly as the field of aerospace science and technology expanded and as interactions between specialist areas became more or less relevant. In very general terms, the mission of each Panel was to fulfil the AGARD mission within its own area of scientific and technical interest and competence.

Each Panel defined a program of meetings and publications in its own specialty, within the general constraints of AGARD policy as determined by the Board. Panel members were responsible for enlisting the necessary support and participation from their own countries. Most Panels held two major meetings each year, which rotated among the NATO Member-Nations. The printing and publication of Panel written works (at that time around 70-90 publications a year) was organised by AGARD Headquarters. Occasionally publications were judged to be of such general interest, that up to 5000 copies were printed.

In January 1998, the need for more cohesion and cost-effectiveness and the need for a single focus in NATO for air, land, sea and space R&T activities resulted in the merger of AGARD and the NATO Defence Research Group (DRG) into the NATO Research and Technology Organization (RTO). The DRG was one of seven "Main Groups" reporting to the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) whose purpose was to foster cooperation on research and new technology which could lead to future defence equipment.
 
The RTO's executive body was the NATO Research and Technology Agency (RTA), located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

The Science and Technology Organization (STO) 
On 1 July 2012, as a result of NATO Reform, the NATO STO was established merging the RTO with the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC) – renamed Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). This combined the expertise and legacy that has been ongoing for over 60 years. The third executive body, the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) was created and collocated in NATO Headquarters to improve scientific advice to NATO leadership.

The Panels of the STO 
The total spectrum of the Collaborative Effort is addressed by six Technical Panels who manage a wide range of Scientific Research Activities, a Group specialising in Modeling and Simulation, plus a Committee dedicated to supporting the Information & Knowledge Management needs of the organisation.

These Panels and Group are the power-house of the collaborative model and are made up of national representatives as well as recognised world-class scientists, engineers and information specialists. In addition to providing critical technical oversight, they also provide a communication link to military users and other NATO bodies.

In any given year, there are over 6000 Scientists and Engineers from NATO and its partners working on approximately 350 research activities conducted by these Technical Teams.

The Applied Vehicle Technology Panel

The mission of the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel, comprising more than 1000 scientists and engineers, is to improve the performance, reliability, affordability, and safety of vehicles through advancement of appropriate technologies. The Panel addresses platform technologies for vehicles operating in all domains (land, sea, air, and space), for both new and ageing systems.

To accomplish this mission the members of the AVT community exploit their joint expertise in the fields of:

 Mechanical systems, structures and materials
 Propulsion and power systems
 Performance, stability and control, fluid physics

The Human Factors and Medicine Panel

The mission of the Human Factors and Medicine Panel is to provide the science and technology base for optimizing health, human protection, well-being and performance of the human in operational environments with consideration of affordability. This involves understanding and ensuring the physical, physiological, psychological and cognitive compatibility among military personnel, technological systems, missions, and environments. This is accomplished by exchange of information, collaborative experiments, and shared field trials.

To address the broad range of S&T areas of strategic importance to the HFM Panel and to support the Panel's operations, the HFM Panel consists two Areas:

 Human Systems and Behavior Area which explores new procedures and technologies for optimizing the performance of individuals, teams and organizations and their interaction with socio-technical systems to achieve effective mission performance. Examples of topics include human-machine interfaces, leadership, training, cultural and gender issues.
 Health, Medicine and Protection Area which is focused on developing an operationally fit and healthy force, restoring health, minimizing disease and injury, as well as optimizing human protection. It covers topics such as medical diagnosis, prevention, treatment and evacuation, as well as human protection research against environmental stressors e.g. cold, heat, air pressure, noise, vibration, CBRN

The Information Systems Technology Panel

The mission of the IST Panel is to advance and exchange techniques and technologies in order to improve C3I systems, with a special focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Interoperability and Cyber Security.

The Panel focuses on the advancement and exchange of techniques and technologies in order to provide timely, affordable, dependable, secure and relevant information to war fighters, planners and strategists, as well as enabling technologies for modelling, simulation, and training. IST's scope of responsibility covers the fields of Information Warfare and Assurance, Information and Knowledge Management, Communications and Networks, and Architecture and Enabling Technologies.

The IST Programme of Work is organized under three Focus Groups:

 Information and Knowledge Management (IWA)
 Architecture and Intelligence Information Systems (AI2S)
 Communications & Networks (COM)

The System Analysis and Studies Panel

The System Analysis and Studies (SAS) Panel conducts studies and analysis for better decisions in strategy, capability development, and operations within NATO, NATO Nations, and partner Nations.

The Panel leverages its broad range of analysis capabilities to provide decision support at all levels and in different areas, namely it identifies and assesses the impacts of geo-political drivers; regional contexts; futures; and technology changes to support policy and strategy decisions. SAS conducts