Italy can be a relevant partner to Washington on a handful of well-defined technology fronts — but only inside a broader European strategy, says Marco Gilli, president of Compagnia di San Paolo and former rector of Politecnico di Torino, in an interview part of Formiche.net and Decode39’s articulated analysis of National Security Science & Technology Strategy.
Why it matters: Gilli’s read of the Trump administration’s NSSTS is that Washington has quietly redefined what “winning” the tech race means — and Europe, Italy included, risks being an afterthought in that redefinition.
What he’s saying:
- On the strategy’s core shift: “The overcoming of the idea of absolute technological superiority” combined with “the ambition to help define the global governance of emerging technologies.”
- On Washington’s posture: the US “cannot, and should not, aim to dominate everything, but to concentrate its advantage where it matters most” — hence the focus on five domains: AI and autonomous systems, biotech, quantum, advanced semiconductors and space.
- On governance as leverage: the goal is both to “keep foreign rivals out” of critical infrastructure and to use tech policy “as a tool of foreign policy.”
Between the lines: Alliances matter, but Europe barely registers in the document. Gilli notes it “explicitly cites New Zealand and the UK, but not the European Union,” and that transatlantic ties “aren’t really given the weight they deserve.”
The Europe problem: Gilli argues it’s increasingly pointless to talk about individual European countries. Nvidia’s market cap is “comparable to Germany’s GDP, and roughly double Italy’s,” while OpenAI and Anthropic could soon be “valued on par with the GDP of many European countries.”
- His conclusion: “The real game has to be played with the EU as a whole” — UK included.
Where Italy fits: Gilli points to concrete openings — physical AI and robotics building on Italy’s “advanced manufacturing capabilities,” gene therapy research feeding biotech ties, and quantum computing where “Fermilab is a significant example” of existing cooperation, anchored around Italy’s national centers in Turin and Pavia.
Yes, but: Italy’s constraints are Europe’s constraints, echoing the Draghi and Letta reports — namely “the absence of a significant capital market and of venture capital funds at adequate scale.” Gilli sees the picture improving, citing CDP-backed investment in Italy and initiatives like the Scale-up Fund involving Intesa Sanpaolo, Compagnia di San Paolo and Cariplo.
The bottom line: Washington is picking its shots rather than chasing dominance everywhere — and expects allies to be “force multipliers.”
- For Italy, and for Europe, the challenge is proving it can be one.
