Venice, January 30, 2025 – 180 technicians, operators, and entrepreneurs from the Venetian port community participated in a two-day training on cybersecurity and digital twin technology, organized by the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority, with the support of the Association of Engineers of Venice. The event took place at the Venezia Heritage Tower in Porto Marghera.
The training sessions were funded by two cooperation projects under the Interreg Italy-Croatia program, which is managed by the Veneto Region. The AdSPMAS is a beneficiary of the first session titled CRESPORT – “Improving the Cyber REsilience and Security of Adriatic PORTs”, and a coordinator of the second session titled DIGITPORTS – “DIGITal Twins applications for safer and greener Adriatic PORTS operations”.
The total funding for both projects exceeds four million euros and involves the participation of major Adriatic ports from Italy and Croatia, including Trieste, Ravenna, Ancona, Rijeka, Split, Zadar, Dubrovnik, and Ploce.
The event featured several notable speakers, including opinion leaders and representatives from the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), CLUSIT – the Italian Association for IT Security, ISACA, the global certification association for IT professionals, and the University of Padua, who discussed topics like the use of artificial intelligence and the dark web. Technical partners supporting the AdSPMAS in coordination include IBM Italia Spa and IBM Cyber Academy for cybersecurity, as well as ESRI Italia and ESRI International, global leaders in georeferencing data for the application of Digital Twin technologies and Building Information Modeling in shipyards, port and public infrastructure settings.
This occasion was also an opportunity to address timely issues that are increasingly in the spotlight, including hackers’ cyberattacks on national and European institutions and businesses, the growing use of drones, advancements in digitalization, the rise of artificial intelligence, the shortage of STEM-skilled professionals, and the need for gender balance in strategic risk management sectors. In the coming years, there will be a growing need for cross-disciplinary skills to manage the potential of exponentially more powerful computers, based on quantum computing, to develop solutions that harness the opportunities of the digital world while managing its risks.
Fulvio Lino Di Blasio, President of the Port Authority, stated: “These training days allowed us to explore crucial topics for the future of port terminals and logistics in general, alongside a panel of internationally renowned experts, using both theoretical and practical scenario analyses. In Venice and Chioggia, the Port Authority, in collaboration with all relevant institutions and the port community, is pursuing the goal of full digitalization of processes and procedures to ensure greater efficiency and speed in daily operations. This transformation requires high-level expertise, particularly in cybersecurity. New technologies, such as the digital twin, will allow us to plan and develop sustainable strategies for port operations and for the valorization of real estate assets, implementing predictive maintenance schemes and projections of goods and passenger traffic flows. This will have beneficial results in terms of prudent resource management and reduction of environmental impact of interventions.”
