Professor Cingolani, the Italian choice to invite the BRICS countries and Africa to the G7 in Puglia was a strong call for global sharing of the future of the planet: is this also your vision?
«It was an absolutely unparalleled choice, replies Roberto Cingolani, scientist, former minister and CEO of the Leonardo Group -. In a moment of such widespread fragmentation from every point of view, commercial, military, wealth distribution, being able to put so many actors around the same table is an achievement, it makes plural what would otherwise be destined to remain separate. It’s something that should make Italians proud.”
And which obviously also has a significant impact on the prospects of large Italian companies that work abroad, is that right?
“That’s it. Knowing that my country communicates correctly with those in which the Leonardo Group is present, and we are talking about 61 countries around the world for around 55 thousand workers overall, can only strengthen our credibility. Being supported in our daily work is certainly a very positive thing. Internationality, to be clear, is an added value that is good for our companies.”
But what is the lowest common denominator that must keep such different countries together?
«I think that for the future of the planet no one, with very few exceptions, can give up on finding a common path, with sacrosanct respect for different cultures. If we think of investing only in differences we won’t go anywhere. We have only one planet where billions of people live who are different from each other in many ways: this is why we cannot build a global society based only on rivalries. This is why when we sit around the same table to talk about things that concern all of humanity we are going in the right direction, let alone if this happens at the highest levels.”
Are special sharing engines needed?
«Culture and politics, here are the drivers of aggregation that I see as more indispensable than others. And I’m talking about politics at the highest level, that is, the ability to broaden objectives which then allows culture to be truly bottom up, from bottom to top. Having conceived and implemented it on the occasion of the Italian G7 was an important signal. I think of the peace process that was started with the Lucerne summit in Switzerland: it is true that China did not go there and that many countries are reflecting but in the meantime we are starting to get people to talk about a decisive issue such as peace , precisely. And this ability to encourage dialogue is fundamental.”
Is Italy and the Mattei Plan, and not only that: is the dialogue with the countries in which our country invests or has been present for some time going in the direction you indicated?
«I see two levels: already when I was dealing with energy or as a scientist I always imagined that it was necessary to think of Africa not as a problem but as a huge resource. It is the youngest continent and we know how important it is for our future: Africa needs infrastructure and growth and we have an ideal geographical but also cultural position to accelerate this process. And this too straddles culture and politics. And then I see Italy towards Europe: when I was energy minister I understood that it was important to bring a calm, sober, measured voice to Europe. I think it is important even today to maintain this approach, making important contributions and gaining the credibility outside Europe and therefore also in Africa which then allows us to be a country of reference. Let’s not forget that Italy is considered a very tolerant country, it is never seen as a predatory country or, even worse, a colonialist one. In Africa, and I have personally verified this, there is a very high level of acceptance of our country. Our social sympathy is making inroads everywhere and this means that we must continue to invest in all of this. And bringing this culture of ours to the world means opening up spaces and opportunities in many sectors, from industry to infrastructure.”
How much does Italian political stability matter which, as also recalled by the Neapolitan Director in his editorial yesterday, is at this moment a rare and at the same time strategic factor for Europe and beyond?
«It’s not a question of political color. Stability always pays. Like precision, punctuality. Having a form of political clarity, regardless of belonging to this or that party, as in the case of a bipolar system for example, allows other countries to perceive ours as a stable country. Changing a government every 18 months certainly doesn’t go in this direction.”
How can the aggregation of such different countries be reconciled with the issue of artificial intelligence which can create fears and rigidities precisely where modernity and innovation are not yet as widespread as in Africa?
«Look, I answer you as a scientist: you don’t have to be afraid of what you don’t know, you just have to study it. It is true that in some countries these technologies can be scary but if we want to improve their condition we must guarantee the tools and opportunities for knowledge, training and growth also on an infrastructural level that allow them to understand that Artificial Intelligence is safe and reliable. And above all that it can be available to everyone. Well, I believe that the central point is precisely this: I am more afraid that artificial and data intelligence will end up in the hands of a few than the possibility that it will be known and therefore practicable by everyone. Only in this way can there be a peaceful diffusion of technology: if we all have it, it is much more difficult to be manipulated. Spreading it and contributing to an open source, to a broad model, means running much fewer risks.”
Leonardo is synonymous with innovation and the digitalisation plan launched by the Group, which with the Nemesi project also involves the historic Pomigliano d’Arco factory, confirms that this path is obligatory in the South as in the rest of the world?
«We are calibrating our entire industrial plan for the next 5 years on artificial intelligence and digitalization at all levels. A bet that started from our supercomputing laboratories, we are progressively bringing to all our products and systems as in the case of Pomigliano. An irreversible path, all the security and therefore the defense capacity of the country passes through here, data, forecasting capabilities, algorithms, speed of data analysis. There is great satisfaction with what we have done, as with the Nemesi project you mentioned. Today we must be able to resist even international crises and if, as currently in the case of Boeing, there are problems, it is clear that we who operate in the aerostructures sector can also be affected. This is why Leonardo’s commitment is to diversify these productions as much as possible: we are working very hard on it. We will prepare a plan that will allow us to overcome this moment too and I have no doubt that we will make it.”
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