Yesterday, 18 July 2017, a symposium was held at the Sala della Scherma at the Foro Italico in Rome, organized by Elettronica in collaboration with The European House - Ambrosetti, entitled "Digital Transformation: new borders, growth and security of the country". In other words, how to tackle the looming and unstoppable phenomenon of the Digital Revolution to best solve all the new geopolitical scenarios and how to convey this transformation to improve Italy's security and defense.
There were many political personalities who did not participate in the meeting, among which the Minister of Defense Roberta Pinotti, the former Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Gianni Letta, the president of Elettronica Enzo Benigni, Vittorio Grilli as president of JP Morgan's Corporate & Investment Bank EMEA, RAI President Monica Maggioni and Corps General Nicolò Falsaperna, Deputy Secretary General of Defense.
The first to speak was Enzo Benigni who expressed the reasons why this day was organized on such a delicate subject: "There were two reasons: the first is the memory of the founder of Elettronica and the second is linked to a long-term project to explain the digital revolution we are experiencing". Explaining this revolution at its best is also the task of the report that was presented during the initial phases of the symposium, which also aims to dictate a policy to follow for politics and industry in order not to fall behind in development . But this looking ahead, according to what Gianni Letta said, cannot do without looking also at one's own past, a capacity that allows us to look far ahead and to better understand the passage to the era of global computer data. "Italy is so not thanks to its energy resources, but thanks to the creativity and lifestyle of the Italians - continued Gianni Letta - Features that have enabled Italy to become one of the world's largest economies". But, he warned, technology is not enough, because this can become a double-edged sword when a man starts to think like a computer.
After the opening of the symposium and the intervention of Gianni Riotta, as moderator of the sector dedicated to "Geopolitics, Industry and Defense", Enrico Letta took the floor, who underlined how important the synergistic relationship between Defense and civil world, especially in the industrial sector. A relationship that in Europe has already been in place for some time and that sees ever greater investments with regard to Defense and which, said Enrico Letta, will lead to an ever closer collaboration on the Franco-German axis, both as regards the both military and economic cooperation. "Italy must be there and must aim to reach 2% of GDP as regards military spending. Penalty lags behind dramatically”, This is the warning of the former president of the council. Also because today it is possible for a State to quickly climb the "steps of development" and the risk of seeing us overcome is high. The choices that must be made by politics are varied, among which according to Letta it is important that finance supports innovation thanks to winning political-industrial choices. Finance has been the theme of Vittorio Grilli, who spoke of the importance of cyber security in the financial field, because: "In the case of a cyber attack on a national financial network the epidemic could expand quickly with disastrous consequences for the economy". To avoid this type of attack it is necessary that Italy, as well as the rest of the world, exploit the technology available in order to analyze and overcome the problems of digitization. At the same time, however, Italy must also become a flourishing land that attracts capital from all over the world, but to do so, Grilli said: "It is necessary to create a critical mass, starting from our excellences building an industrial system capable of making the most of the opportunities offered".
The "change of course" in the discussion was offered by Fabrizio Maronta, responsible for Limes International Relations, who focused, during his speech, on global geopolitical change, which brings with it new challenges and seemingly difficult problems to to solve. The two examples brought by Maronta were Russia, which with its strongly militarist foreign policy contributed to the chaos of the post-bipolar world, and China, which after its entry into the WTC (World Treaty Council) has started to purchase many American treasury bills "forcing" the US to move towards rebalancing the world. The stipulation of the TTIP and the TTP, which, excluding Russia and China, aimed to shift commercial power back to the United States, led to the Chinese response with the new silk roads which look to Africa and the Mediterranean. "Mediterranean that has returned to vital importance for world trade - according to Maronta - and that Europe must know how to exploit, overcoming its greatest vulnerability at the moment: the migration phenomenon, which causes internal divisions and which has revived the idea of a Europe with more speed".
The return on digital transformation took place with the intervention of the gen. Nicolò Falsaperna, who spoke about how important it is to analyze the change we face, because: "Never as in this case the revolution is everywhere and affects every person". A route that began within the defense sector through the digitalisation of a great deal of information and the search for new technologies and new avenues of development, in order to: "Pursuing a strategy that consolidates Italy's international role". The intervention of Paola Severino, rector of LUISS and former Minister of Justice, instead focused on young people, fundamental for the future of our country and, above all, growing up in the world of information technology. But Severino also spoke of how important it is for Italy to take a leading role in drafting international rules for the cyber world, in order to make the various laws homogeneous and to be able to monitor and guarantee the security of online information. Information, in terms of media, which was, also because of its role as RAI president, the focus of Monica Maggioni's speech. "The media are part of the change and must know all the new tools available. This because - continues Maggioni - we have not yet realized the universe we are dealing with". A universe, that of digitalised information, which has modified the mechanisms of communication itself, with the proliferation of fake news, created and modified ad hoc thanks to the use of computer systems.
The intervention that concluded the day was that of Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti, who spoke about how the role of Defense has changed over the years, which gave impulses for technological development. Dava does not give, because over the years this peculiarity of the Western world has turned upside down, bringing industries and start-ups to carry out development before Defense. This situation is also the result of economic change in Italy, where funds for defense are always limited. Precisely for this reason sen. Pinotti recalled that: "Today the Defense White Paper was presented to the Senate in the Commission, so that it becomes a law. A six-year law that is not linked to the political thermometer but that gives long-lasting projects to the industry". It would be a great step forward for Italy and for Defense in general, because it would make it possible to empower politics in the choice of industrial and military strategies to follow in the future. In addition to this, the Minister of Defense assured, it would also be possible to say enough about the cuts that take place on military programs. "The vote will be challenging, but it will allow the industrialists and the military to seriously discuss programming", All in order both to avoid wasting public money and to improve the quality of the Armed Forces.
This is an important commitment for the country which, if completed, would allow the Armed Forces to make a leap forward in the steps of development, but that would not only benefit the Defense because, as a consequence, all digital and IT developments would be used also in the civil sectors, allowing Italy to keep pace with the digital revolution.
