Global Security: in Search of a New Vision - Center for Strategic ...

54 Mr. Giorgio Zappa
West ern coun tries’ weak nesses and their increas ing demand for secu rity. At the same time, it is involved
in an accel er ated pro cess for devel op ing new tech nol ogy able to improve col lec tive secu rity stan dards.
These new sys tems, whether already avail able or still being tested, are instru men tal to respond ing to any
pos si ble threats. They have been iden ti fied as inte grated oper a tive mis sions, civil and mil i tary mis sions
such as bor der con trol, trans port secu rity, sen si tive infrastructure protection, and energy and
procurement security.
THE NEED FOR NEW MEA SURES TO ENSURE
OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY
This envi ron ment pro duces two side effects. One, there is a need to under take spe cific mea sures to
ensure the oper a tional capa bil ity of the police and armed forces, civil ian pro tec tors, and firefighters. Two,
to pro vide secu rity to cit i zens, we need to increase tech no log i cal capa bil ity in terms of tele com mu ni ca -
tions, trans por ta tion, ser vices, IT sys tems, and the inte grated com po nents in every pub lic admin is tra tion
sec tor com mit ted to this task. We must also invest in devel op ing a few selected areas in order to main tain
the indus trial system at the highest level of high-tech.
Finmeccanica, for exam ple, is pres ent in the every day life of many peo ple. Sys tem inte gra tion and
tech nol ogy inno va tion are the key stones of Finmeccanica’s suc cess, as they are of other inter na tional
com pa nies’ com pet i tive edge. For this rea son, Finmeccanica invests about $1 bil lion a year in research
and devel op ment activ i ties—14% of rev e nues—which puts Finmeccanica in the best posi tion in the
inter na tional high-tech sec tor. We are, in other words, invest ing in stra te gic tech nol ogy, antic i pat ing mar -
ket needs and cus tomer expec ta tions, and announc ing indus trial effi ciency with the objec tive of improv -
ing our com pet i tive advan tage and coop er at ing with other key play ers—states, inter na tional
orga ni za tions, insti tu tions, and armed and paramilitary forces in the new global scenario.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
To con clude, I would like to wish you all the best at this impor tant event. I really care about this ini tia -
tive and I have coop er ated with its cre ation and orga ni za tion since the first work shop. I believe that even
greater atten tion should be paid to this kind of event to pro mote the impor tance of the top i cal issues it
discusses.