The state of innovation in modeling and simulation: The last 50 years

Innovation in Modeling and Simulation (M&S) refers to exploiting new ideas, exploiting new technology, and employing out-of-the-box thinking, which lead to the creation of new methodologies, techniques, concepts, frameworks, and software. This paper addresses the following questions: (a) what was the state of the art in M&S 50 years ago, what is it today, how much progress has been made? (b) how much innovation in M&S has been accomplished over the last half a century? (c) what were the obstacles to innovation in M&S? (d) what are some recommendations to promote innovation in M&S? (e) what message should be sent to the funding agencies to encourage innovation in M&S?