Cybersecurity is a young man’s game

Gamification experiments to raise awareness among youth and companies

Rome Future Week 2024, Home of Emerging Technologies

September 20, 2024, 12 noon – 2 p.m.

A meeting dedicated to gamification and video games as an approach to cybersecurity awareness, organized by Cyber 4.0 (National Highly Specialized Competence Center for Cybersecurity), in collaboration with CTE Rome, Invitalia and IIdea (Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association).

The event will provide an overview of the market and opportunities in the world of video games and cybersecurity, highlighting, as a point of contact between the two sectors, the spread of gamification experiences as a cyber awareness technique.

Some of the finalist projects of Let’s Cyber Game, the national contest promoted by the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, with the support of Cyber 4.0 and Invitalia that allowed participants to design, develop, test and create a video game to educate young people about cybersecurity and countering cybercrime, will be presented as a concrete use case. The three winners of the competition, which involved about one hundred and fifty students from Italy’s twenty-two ITS Academies belonging to the ICT area, were selected from the ten finalists by the commission of experts appointed by MIMIT and were awarded on the opening day of FORUM PA 2024.

The use of gamification techniques in the context of cybersecurity awareness activities is an increasingly used approach especially in companies. In addition to the effectiveness of learning-by-doing, this approach allows users to increase their level of attention through greater involvement in training activities. Accompanying traditional training modes with gamification experiences, it represents to date one of the most comprehensive training methods for spreading cyber awareness.

During the event, which will allow people to try out video games developed by the Let’s Cyber Game teams, business matching activities aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs and startups interested in starting and managing projects in the video game and cybersecurity sectors through dedicated one-on-one meetings will also be offered.

Agenda

12.00

Opening remarks:

  • The importance of Gamification as an innovative approach to cybersecurity awareness and youth-focused initiatives: the example of Let’s Cyber Game.

Matteo Lucchetti Chief Operating Officer, Cyber 4.0

Alessandro Calabrese Head of Training and Advisory Cyber 4.0

12.05

Institutional Greetings

Roberta Serroni, Director Division VIII – Electronic communications networks and services for public and private use, MIMIT

12.10

Gamification as a tool for cybersecurity awareness & training in enterprises: effectiveness, market demand and prospects

Alessandro Curioni President Di.Gi. Academy

12.20

The video game market and business opportunities: megatrend, success story, and use case. The Italian video game industry and the professionals involved

Alberto Simonetti Policy & Public Affairs Manager at IIDEA

12.30

Business modeling & planning and startup bootstrapping for aspiring entrepreneurs in the video game and cybersecurity industries: from business idea, to implementation phases.

Susanna Zuccarini Business Development Specialist, Invitalia

12.40

Interview with some of the finalist teams in the Lets’ Cyber Game contest:

  • The design and development phase of the demo, subsequent versions and next steps
  • Live presentation of demos

Team Shard Tower – ITS Lazio Digital: Alfredo Campagna, Jacopo Colistra, Federico Salvucci, Francesco Stazi

Bean Team – ITS Rossellini: Simone Serratore

13.00

Light Lunch, Networking & Demo

  • Set up stations to try out Let’s Cyber Game finalist video games.
  • Set up dedicated stations for business matching and one-on-one meetings aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs and startups.

14.00

Acknowledgements and closing of the proceedings

Matteo Lucchetti Cyber 4.0 chief operating officer

To participate register here