Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe will facilitate a summit on the security of cyber networks and physical systems at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia from Sept. 20 to 22.

The Cyber-Physical Systems Summit will be held to spread awareness about the challenges that organizations face to protect autonomous platforms, infrastructure and Internet of Things-based devices, McAuliffe’s office said Thursday.

“This first-ever Cyber-Physical Systems Summit will bring industry leaders together in Virginia to devise new strategies to secure our cyber networks and physical assets,” noted McAuliffe.

“This type of collaboration is essential to staying on top of growing trends in this fast-moving industry, and staying ahead of criminals across the globe who are working every day to undermine the security of our technological resources and our communities,” he added.

His office added some technology professionals will provide their ideas on how to address cyber-physical challenges as well as strategies to build a “culture of awareness and preparedness” to address threats.

McAuliffe will host the event in partnership with the National Governor’s Association and in accordance with his Meet the Threat: States Confront the Cyber Challenge initiative as NGA chair.

Katrina McFarland, the Army’s acting assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, has described cyber and electronic warfare as enterprise challenges and discussed ways to work through the attacks, C4ISRNET reported Thursday.

McFarland said via video teleconference at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium that work through cyber or EW attacks requires comprehension of systems and categorization of the critical parts, Mark Pomerleau reports.

“If you take a look at a system, there are many functions that a system performs military – some of them more critical than others,” she said.

“That needs to be understood because then, in terms of how do you build protection inside of that system, you create the environment that protects the highest degree those most critical missions while allowing some degradation of the non-critical missions,” McFarland added.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration seeks ideas from industry on how NTIA can help accelerate adoption of internet protocol version 6 in the U.S. as well as information on the potential advantages and disadvantages of implementing the new network protocol.

NTIA said Thursday that IPv6 can accommodate more than 340 undecillion web addresses compared with the approximately 4.3 billion addresses that IPv4 currently supports.

NTIA will collect data to guide the agency’s efforts to help organizations implement IPv6 and contribute to the IPv6 Best Practice Forum as part of the Internet Governance Forum’s intercessional work program.

The agency also plans to use gathered information to craft a report that will support domestic and international promotional efforts related to IPv6, according to a notice posted Thursday in the Federal Register.

Responses to the request for comment are due Oct. 3.

Internet experts have predicted the number of internet-connected devices will increase to as many as 200 billion by 2020, or 25 devices per person, NTIA noted.

A team of dermatologists at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California has conducted an allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell procedure on a U.S. Navy veteran, marking the first such operation at a U.S. military treatment facility.

The Navy said Wednesday physicians used stem cells from a donor’s bone marrow to address the patient’s skin damage during the medical procedure.

John Trafeli, head of the dermatology research division and the Training and Research for Project Comprehensive Advanced Restorative Effort at NMCSD, led the stem cell transplantation initiative.

The effort marks the start of a clinical trial at the naval hospital that seeks to explore the potential use of regenerative medicine for people who have traumatic brain and musculocutaneous nerve injuries and dental diseases, the Navy added.

NMCSD and biotechnology firm StemCutis initiated the stem cell study as part of a collaborative research and development agreement.

The medical center will host the 2016 Project C.A.R.E. Summit that will be held from September 7 to 9 and feature developments in restorative and regenerative medicine across the military, private sector medical communities.