CEO & Co-Founder August Lersten represented Labrys Technologies at a panel held at the Australia-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce. The panel and discussion evolved around AUKUS Pillar 2, and the integration of emerging technologies in support of common national security objectives. AUKUS is intended to drive technological integration, build industrial capacity of all three nations and push forward the strategic convergence of our three countries.

Link to the official highlights from the recent 'AUKUS Pillar 2: Future Focused - Advancing Technologies' event held on November 9th - are found below;

'A special thanks to the Honourable Stephen Smith, Australian High Commissioner, for his opening address. We also extend our appreciation to the panel moderator, Andrew Moloney (SoftIron), and panellists: Dr. Brendan Nelson AO (Boeing), Dr. Olivia Samardzic (Australian High Commission) and August Lersten (Labrys Technologies). The session delved into the opportunities and challenges of AUKUS Pillar 2'. https://www.australiachamber.co.uk/event/aukus-pillar-2-future-focused-advancing-technologies/

On September 15, 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced AUKUS. The centrepiece of AUKUS, known as “Pillar One,” is the delivery of a nuclear-powered attack submarine capability to Australia. Progress on this pillar was seen in March 2023, when the leaders of the three AUKUS nations to announced a pathway toward a trilaterally developed submarine, the SSN-AUKUS class - but we’re not here to talk about submarines. Less attention has been given to Pillar Two of the agreement, “the lesser-known – and poorly understood – part of AUKUS.”It’s a generational opportunity for collaboration across a range of critical sectors and advanced capabilities - not just for the advancement of our joint defence capabilities, but for greater sovereign resilience and competitive advantage in technology and the technology supply chain more broadly. With the UK not delivering its own first SSN-AUKUS until the late 2030s and Australia not until the early 2040s, Pillar Two can deliver benefits much sooner.There is also significant opportunity for a much wider range of industry involvement and benefit. The long-term promise of Pillar 2 needs to be, and can be, realised sooner.