The EU’s Cybersecurity Strategy for the Digital Decade, 10-12 May 2023, Rome, Italy

It was a great honour for the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) to hold this important activity together with the Interagency Law Enforcement Academy of Advanced Studies of Italy (Scuola di Perfezionamento per le Forze di Polizia, Roma).

The course was opened by the course director, Major-General Giuseppe La Gala and by the ESDC Training Manager, Mr Giuseppe Zuffanti, who explained that the aim of the course was to provide a better understanding of the main pillars of the EU’s Cybersecurity Strategy for the Digital Decade.

The training hosted around 50 participants in a fully residential format. The attendees were law enforcement, civilian, military and diplomatic personnel from the Member States, EU national authorities, EU institutions and delegations, and various other EU bodies.

The course was organised as a forum in which experts from the Member States, EU institutions and agencies and the private sector held lectures on cyber but also had the chance to interact with the participants and inform them about current and future developments at strategic, tactical and operational levels in the context of the EU’s Cybersecurity Strategy.

Furthermore, during these three intense days of the course, participants also had the opportunity to actively participate in the opening plenary panel discussion.

Moreover, one added value of this course was that it was also attended by law enforcement personnel attending the Italian Advanced Training Course.

The ESDC would like to thank the speakers/experts for their exceptional contributions and valuable input and suggestions, namely:

All the distinguished lecturers from the main stakeholders of the European cyber ecosystem: the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the EEAS, ENISA, EDA, the EUMS, Europol, EU-LISA, Eurocontrol, the EUISS, the ECTEG, the Health and Digital Executive Agency , and Hybrid CoE.

All the distinguished speakers from the main stakeholders of the Italian cyber ecosystem: the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Defence, the National Cybersecurity Agency and, the National Postal and Communication Police – Public Security Department.

All the distinguished speakers from: the Campus Bio‐Medico University of Rome; the University of Lodz, Dept of International Law (Poland); the Gruppo Ferrovie dello Stato Italy; the Leonardo cyber and security company; Digital Platforms S.p.a.; Ente Nazionale Assistenza al Volo (ENAV); the Enel Group.

Special thanks go to the course director, Giuseppe La Gala, and his staff for their excellent organisation of the course and all the participants for their active participation and commitment.