Connected cars, artificial intelligence, internet of things, robots … we live in a world of permanent connectivity and, therefore, it is vital that we are also well connected. In fact, numerous studies have indicated that networking is the key to 90% of the company’s success. More specifically, some, such as the one conducted by the Stanford Research Institute, indicate that the success of a company is determined by 12.5% ??based on the knowledge and experience of employees and 87.5% on the ability they have to interact with other people, both inside and outside the company.

The first edition of QA&TEST Safety and Security aims to be the ideal forum for the exchange of experiences, initiatives and knowledge. In fact, all the attendees to the QA&TEST conferences during its 18-year history highlight its ideal size and structure to promote networking, with innumerable opportunities to expand our network while improving our knowledge with tools and methodologies that allow us to create more robust solutions. Certainly, attendees to QA&TEST Safety and Security will be able to take from the conference very useful and lasting over time professional relationships while knowing what is being done in other companies and sectors and how to implement those techniques or methodologies in their activity. Taking part in QA&TEST we will find the advice and the necessary motivation to face the new challenges that technology presents.

Nowadays there are many conferences whose topic is cybersecurity but QA&TEST Safety and Security is not a cybersecurity conference but addresses a specific problem that is essential if we want to develop “smart” solutions (Smart energy, Smart connected car …) such as the aspects of Safety and Security. In most cases these two terms are treated as separate disciplines and the approach to both concepts or requirements is also done separately, with different teams involved in different phases of system development. The integration of both factors is not sufficiently explored or considered. In fact, measures adopted to mitigate risks that affect safety can be contradictory with security requirements and vice versa.

Currently it is not easy to access methodologies, techniques, tools or standards that allow us to effectively face the technical, regulatory, organizational and market challenges that such integration demands and thus, as a result of this reflection, the QA&TEST Safety and Security conference was born, with the aim of offering our attendees a meeting point between professionals from different sectors to have access to the approaches and good practices  in the different sectors, with the ultimate aim of being able to develop more competitive and robust solutions for the market with controlled levels of effort and cost.