Leaders from government, higher education and the field of development are meeting in Bloomington for a conference focused on innovative warfare technology.
The innovation hones in on four core areas: defense technology, manufacturing, life sciences biomedical and IT cyber.
Conference leaders say technology is the key to keeping the U.S. military a step ahead of its enemies all of the time.
The conference was the first of its kind bringing all the big partners together at the same table.
"We're really trying to take a progressive approach to be real intentional and strategically committed to enhancing these partnerships in a much broader way so that again we can really identify the best opportunities to field innovative sensor and weapons systems to continue to put our war fighters in a superior technological position when they're on the battle field," says Kyle Werner, Applied Science Director at NSW Crane.
Werner says Crane has been building its research and development arm and along with that strengthening its ties with universities in Indiana.
He says the number of civilians working at Crane is at a 20 year high.