Cingolani (Leonardo): "In futuro la pace sarà più semplice nello spazio che sulla Terra"

Roberto Cingolani, AD di Leonardo, in occasione dell'IAC 2024 ha dichiarato:

"It is the first time ever that we start a new technology era, taking into account a priori ex-ante, that we have to care where this technology acceleration will happen. So I believe this is a strong message. Before starting, we already take care of the future sustainability. We never did this in the past. Maybe we have learned the lesson. I think this is a very good point, a very good message today. The second message that I got after this introduction is that today many countries are contributing to this event: they are talking, they are sharing information. Countries that on the planet normally don't like to talk to each other, especially in those terrible days in which we have more than 55 conflicts. So in some sense, I have the feeling that there is an opportunity or a hope. May I share a hope? Then maybe in the future, peace will be easier in space than in the planet. That could be a very interesting message. It's up to us, it is not written anywhere. If we will make the same mistakes as we did in the past on the surface of the planet will make war in the space. If we have learned the lesson, just like the lesson of sustainability, maybe we will be much more peaceful in the space. Today the indication is that countries that normally don't like to talk about their businesses in the planet like to talk about their business in space. So this is a very good new and I'm happy to see this. So I thank you for showing this because I didn't realize myself. Third message or take home message: this is a renaissance of space, I've been a scientist most of my life, developing technologies, nanotechnology, robotics, I had this short break in my life as a technical minister for the environmental transition, which was, by the way, a technical duty. Now I'm in Leonardo, which is an immense laboratory for developing technologies. So what I've learned is that technology needs continuously a new renaissance, new ideas, new excitement, new participants. I think space is now facing a new renaissance. This is not only because we are advancing technologies, but also because big companies, private individuals, are getting into the game. It was never like this in the past. I hope this is also a very good new for the future and for the development of this sector. My last message, or at least my last take home message, I'll bring this to my home but I want to share with you, I think we also realized all of a sudden somehow that digital technologies, high performance computing, cloud computing, AI, cybersecurity should be introduced into the race for space since the very beginning. So we are designing, we are creating technologies that are digital by design. In the future, the dream could be to have cloud in space, bringing internet on the outer satellites and planets, maybe letting our astronauts to be in a place where information localization will be easier though they are not on the Earth."