For years now, CCTV has been a leading sector – it registered in Italy +18.2% in 2021 (source: Anie Sicurezza) -  within the progressive rise of the security market.

After all, the supply chain is proving to be particularly responsive to the rapidly evolving technological landscape and, thanks to the integration of Artificial Intelligence and IoT solutions, is proving able to offer increasingly customised solutions to meet the specific security and surveillance needs of the most diverse vertical markets, such as critical infrastructures, public transport, banks, industries, schools and shopping centres, and - as we shall see - environmental sustainability.

Video surveillance systems generate huge amounts of data that, if not properly analysed, lose their value within their respective security systems. The contribution of AI maximises the potential of this data through analysis, transforming it from information for passive use, into complex factors with more varied purposes, which go far beyond anti-intrusion.

From the most complex contexts such as critical infrastructures - those essential critical centres that ensure the continuous and secure supply of energy, water and health products, as well as financial, communication and traffic flows - to the places of our everyday life, AI applied to video analysis can help us understand patterns of behaviour, repeated or deviant actions, anomalies, and individual flows.

Thanks to artificial intelligence and advanced video analysis, it is possible to detect violations, dangerous or abnormal behaviour or suspicious vehicles in real time - even simultaneously on multiple sites. In critical infrastructures, for instance, it can identify sabotage attempts or unauthorised access. Similarly, it allows computer systems to be monitored and potentially malicious activity or online vulnerabilities to be reported. The tools available to security managers are many.

Modern access and perimeter control systems, integrated with data captured via video, provide an immediate and accurate view of what is going on, with the possibility of allowing automatic access through facial recognition or other types of credentials. The same technologies enable the detection of personal protective equipment in use, preventing, for example, personnel not wearing safety equipment properly from entering a hazardous area.

Finally, in the retail sector, latest-generation video surveillance cameras do indeed maintain an anti-theft role, as they are able to track the recorded scene, automatically detecting and interpreting the physical characteristics, movements and behaviour of subjects and objects in the field of vision, but they also function as an important marketing tool, capable of providing an accurate analysis of what is happening inside the store with accurate information concerning the organisation of display spaces and shopping routes, and the distribution of personnel.

In short, the growing need for security, together with the unstoppable development of networks, broadband and AI, opens up vast application possibilities and fosters the spread of video surveillance systems in both the public and private sectors: there is no plant project nowadays that does not include a video surveillance system, especially considering its infinite application possibilities.

SICUREZZA 2023 will be an opportunity to explore the most innovative technologies, but also to assess the most suitable solution for each type of customer, interfacing with manufacturers, but also the telling of success stories, with applications in the most diverse contexts.