RAIT88 at the service of the country system against non-conventional CBRN threats
The international scenario and security structures have profoundly changed with the pandemic triggered by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. What is being questioned is not only the resilience and social cohesion within countries, but also the resilience of the economic system and entire productive sectors, as has been found with the critical issues that have arisen in the past year.
The pandemic circulation of a new pathogen has unusually posed at the center issues for too long neglected such as Biosecurity (in the double meaning of biosafety and biosecurity) as well as the new scientific and technological frontiers of the life sciences, with respect to which individual countries, even the best organized ones, are not adequately prepared lacking a strategic organization to face the challenge of emerging biological threats.
RAIT88, a leading company in the technological innovation sector, has several projects in the pipeline to allow the country system to equip itself with an architecture that puts it in the best conditions to meet this challenge. The same is true if the aim is to prevent and manage emergencies that could arise from unconventional threat sources, which unfortunately could be more and more frequent. Among these projects, for example, stand out CORRESPOND, for the study and validation of multi-sensor technologies for the activation of a prompt response during pandemics. Or also HPSWFood, dedicated to the high pressure sanitation of water for the removal of food viruses. Yet: Nano-sensor, focused on nanosensors powered by nanoantennas for autonomous detection of chemical and biological threats; WET3R, aimed at the development of new water sanitation and purification systems. Finally, RAIT88 is working on patents of equipment for the security of military or civilian operators against Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear threats, for example deriving from a conflict or a terrorist attack or in any case an adverse event, but also only for prevention.
As the Dr. Alessandro Fidenzi, Chief Global Strategist of the Roman company, “the match ofinnovation it’s really crucial, especially because in our perspective it is placed at the service of the country system and of our defense. The competition in the sector of new challenges of the CBRN type (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) and, in particular, in the field of new biological risks it will be particularly intense, and it is a horizon against which we must not look with fear but rather prepare ourselves with dedication and trust in our abilities and National Excellence not to be left behind in comparison with the major international players”.
The concept of multidisciplinarity in this sector plays a fundamental role, as explained by the Prof. Massimo Amorosi, expert in biological risks and CBRN of RAIT88: “whichever direction one comes from biological threat with pathogenetic and epidemiological characteristics new and regardless of its origin – natural, accidental or deliberate – the need to combine the different skills, overcoming the logic of compartmentalisation, becomes an absolute priority, especially if we take into account the disruptive scope that the intersection between life sciences and other emerging technological sectors will increasingly have”.
According to Prof. Dr. Stefano Bellucci, head of the Research and Innovation sector by RAIT88. “Land Rait88’s proposals for the creation of detection and protection systems against pathogens, such as bacteria, toxins and viruses, with particular attention to coronaviruses, based on design and construction of innovative sensors, usable in the fields of counter-terrorism, food safety, environmental remediation and health, represent a highly topical contribution to raise the resilience level of our country system”.