The 2017 edition of the CBRNe Summit-Europe, which this year took place in the beautiful setting of Madrid (Spain), was completed successfully from 24 to 27 April.
The Summit, in addition to the consolidated and multi-year collaboration among the University of Rome Tor Vergata-Department of Electronic Engineering, the University of the Republic of San Marino- Center for Security and Training and Education, OSDIFE and Intelligence-Sec, had also, as in the previous editions, the Official Endorsement of the NATO JCBRN Defence Center of Excellence.
The event, as a tradition, wanted to give to the CBRN operators and experts the coordinates and state of the art of non-conventional threats, with particular attention to emerging technologies and current and future scenarios, which are going to be extremely challenging.
In order to make the event even more interesting and engaging, there was also organized the workshop “Rising Threats in Europe and the Developments within the Gift-CBRN Project”, chaired by Dr Ed Van Zalen, Program Manager at the Netherlands Forensic Institute, which took place on day 24th, and the visit to the Spanish Army Medical Brigade Command at the conclusion of the Summit.
The activities, characterized by high profile and extraordinary content thanks to the large and prestigious panel of experts and to the presence of a dynamic and participatory audience, saw also an active sharing of expertise and knowledge, and the birth of great new ideas for reflection for the present and the future which made the dialectical exchange lively and fruitful.
At the CBRNe Summit Europe 2017, personalities from the institutional, military, academic, civil, private research and police forces world intervened, and that contributed crucially to the success of the event. Among these, in addition to the Spanish authorities present at the opening, there were, among others: Mr. Keith Asman, Head of Forensics and Digital Investigations, South East Counter Terrorism Unit of United Kingdom’s National Counter Terrorism Police; Col.a. (c/a) t. ISSMI Fabrizio Benigni, Chief of CBRN defence Section of the Arms Control, Verification and Counter-Proliferation Office – Defence Staff – III Unit Military Policy and Pianification; Col. Ignacio Castro, Commanding Officer NBC Regiment of the Spanish Ministry of Defence; Ms. Anh Thu Dang, Deputy Director of VARANS; Dr Lidia Alexandrova Ezerska, Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment, Health Emergencies Programme of World Health Organisation; Lt. Col. Andrea Gloria, Department Director Protection Department of Oberammergau NATO School; Col. Denis Josse, Adviser on CBRN Risks Management & Head of the Pharmaceutical Services of the French Alpes-Maritimes Fire and Rescue Services; Dr Roberta Mugellesi Dow, Integrated Application Manager at European Space Agency; Col. (Ret.) Ramli H Nik, Senior Fellow Faculty of Strategic Studies and Defence Management of National Defence University of Malaysia; Dr Steve Photiou, Senior Attending Emergency Physician, Emergency Department at St. Antonio Hospital; Col. Volker Quante, Deputy Director, NATO JCBRN Defence Centre of Excellence; Major Olivier Rousseau, Head Joint CBRN Sector of Belgian Ministry of Defence; Inspector Ian Stubbs, Operations and Performance, National CBRN Centre, National Counter Terrorism Police of the United Kingdom; Cap. Josè Antonio Torres, Second Chief of CBRN Unit della Guardia Civil; Mr Alessandro Ungaro, Research Fellow, Security and Defence Programme of International Affairs Institute and Mr Paul Wilson, Counter Terror Investigator, Police Service of Northern Ireland.
OSDIFE takes the opportunity to thank all the participants for the event and renews the appointment for the forthcoming CBRNe Summit Europe, which will take place in Rome (Italy) from 17th to 19th April 2018.
