Between 2000 and 2010, Italian security technology exports doubled. Revenue increased 20 percent in 10 years from US$2.1 billion in 2000 to $2.5 billion in 2010. However, the scenario changed radically in the second half of the decade. Over the last few years, the economic crisis was exacerbated by a slowdown in new construction. This negatively affected the whole security sector, which directly deals with the building sector. The recent turmoil is making observers uneasy, as Italy is being crushed by public debt and the euro is at risk. Italy received dire warnings from the EU, rating agencies and the European Central Bank.
Market Conditions
In 2011, the Italian safety and building automation (BA) industry reached $2.55 billion, up 4.9 percent from 2010, according to ANIE Sicurezza. Positive growth came from both the domestic market — growing 3.4 percent — and overseas sales.
Security exports represented a limited value of $332.5 million in 2011, but showed strong growth of 22.9 percent, continuing the positive trend of 2010's 18.9 percent. The main target markets are in Europe, particularly eastern European countries, where the building sector shows greater dynamism.
Yet exporting is difficult to achieve for Italian companies, as they face many obstacles when trying to enter foreign markets. That is due to a lack of financial support compared to other European countries, excessive red tape from fragmented agencies and the lack of an influential trade platform that can support a network of representative companies. Finally, uneven regulations do not allow complete standardization, even within the EU. The lack of homogeneous procedures aimed at controlling and certifying products inside the EU and the high costs imposed by local test facilities present enormous obstacles to the free trade of security. This results in long delays and an administrative workload which greatly affects budgets.
The Security Equipment Manufacturers (SEMS, a branch of the BSIA) are working toward the introduction of a single European control and certification system, which has forwarded a formal request to the relevant EU agencies. Not only do regulations change from country to country, but even the very same markets are regulated with different norms. In some countries, the product market is controlled by surveillance players or even outsiders, such as insurance companies and banks that clearly have different interests from physical security. In emerging countries, the situation is even more chaotic.
In spite of the current difficulties, there are encouraging signs. For example, the initiative started by Assosicurezza in cooperation with the Compagnia delle Opere-C.O. Export (consortium for exports) is aimed at penetrating markets under the auspices and funding of the Lombardy Region.