We are about to close our offices for 2025 winter holidays, and we do so with a milestone that powerfully reflects Fondazione SAFE’s mission, growth and strategic direction.

When, at the end of 2022, we signed our Framework Agreement with the Italian Defence General Staff, we were just starting our journey of collaboration with Italian Armed Forces, with the first projects on training, capacity building and R&D for new technologies being started. At the end of the three years of this agreement, we reached unimaginable targets with over fifty project activities implemented, a global value of over 60 million € throughout joint initiatives, partnership in strategic EDF initiatives, over 250 journalists, NGO staff and professionals trained in our HEAT courses, and many more.

Today, we celebrate the renewal of this strategic agreement for another three years, expanding its original scope to allow better, stronger and more impactful partnerships being built with all key actors which operate under the Italian MoD, leveraging our expertise in training, capacity building and innovation uptake. More in general, this agreement reaffirms a shared commitment to European security and freedom, working side by side on EU-funded initiatives to boost effective use of EU resources, improving resilience and service delivery to European citizens.

This milestone crowns a year defined by consolidation, innovation and impact.

Among the most notable achievements of 2025 is XR1403, developed in partnership with Mestel Safety: a next-generation CBRN training mask integrating XR technologies with real physiological feedback, unveiled at I/ITSEC, the world’s leading event for modelling, simulation and training. Alongside this, SAFE continued to advance immersive training solutions through VR- and AR-based projects such as VERTIgO, HOTHREAT and eNOTICE2, further enhancing training effectiveness and operator safety in complex operational environments.

2025 also marked the successful completion of several key projects fully aligned with SAFE’s core values and strategic priorities. These include POSEIDON, addressing corruption in major EU ports, and EMERITUS and PERIVALLON, both focused on countering environmental crime through advanced technological and operational solutions.

At the same time, the year opened the door to new strategic initiatives. SAFE launched HELIX, building on its growing expertise in environmental security, and advanced major capacity-building programmes such as EUROJUST, delivering training on judicial cooperation in criminal matters across the Western Balkans and the Euro-Mediterranean region, or JUSTSHARE, aimed at strengthening judicial cooperation through enhanced asset recovery mechanisms. New flagship projects such as READYMED and RESIST further reinforce SAFE’s commitment to defence readiness and the resilience of critical infrastructures across Europe.

All these achievements are underpinned by SAFE’s expanding in-house expertise, strong applied research capabilities and active contribution to European programmes, within the ecosystem of the Calvarina Testing & Training Facility, a NATO DIANA-accredited hub for advanced testing, validation and training.

As we conclude 2025, Fondazione SAFE does so with renewed responsibility and determination, ready to build on these results and continue contributing to a safer, more resilient and more secure Europe.