Innovation is vital in order to stay ahead of the market with solutions that are always in step with the times and to be able to respond to increasingly exacting and wide-ranging demand.

Three companies exhibiting at SICUREZZA 2021 told us what Research & Development means to them, revealing some of the strategies that guide them in managing this activity.

Patrizio Bosello, President & CEO of Axel, whose investment in R&D consistently exceeds 10% of its annual turnover, stresses that the real added value when it comes to innovation is people: "The central resources in design, it goes without saying, are human: those people with whom the company's technical know-how has grown steadily and significantly over the years. At the same time, significant investments have been made in high-level instrumentation, in the company laboratory for pre-compliance with CE tests, in software suitable for the various stages of design, in the company’s secured data network for coordinating between design and automatic testing machines, and in the constant training of technical operators. Know-how does not only mean technique, but also a company product philosophy, a way of making systems usable and manageable by operators with the single purpose: of satisfying user needs".

Performing research and development is often a vocation lodged in a company’s DNA, as testified by Giuseppe Garro, founder and General Manager of Politec: “Since our start-up, we included an R&D department because we are certain that specialization is only achieved by researching new solutions that are increasingly geared to the real and implied needs of installers. We certainly devote at least 10% of our annual turnover to investment in research and development".

AMC Elettronica also invests in innovation "because we believe that in a technology-based sector, such as security, it is essential not to lose step with new technologies in order to stay on the market and be competitive. Our investment has always been a large percentage compared to turnover (about 25%)" - explains Mara Mazzola, marketing head in the company.

PEOPLE: INTERNAL SPECIALISATION AND EXTERNAL NETWORKS

You can't succeed on your own: for this reason, all companies interviewed make use of an important core of R&D specialists, but they also invest in collaborating with qualified outside partners.

"Our design lab consists of just under ten permanent staff including coordinators and designers." - Axel explains - "It goes without saying that whilst hardware, firmware and software are developed by in-house design, efforts and timing are optimized by cooperating with highly specialized third-party companies for the coordinated development of project sections, and also with companies in the same sector with some of whom we have actually been 'networking' for several years profitably, by launching joint development projects, where each company contributes its own specific know-how. It has been so, for example, in the embedded development of our CEI-ABI protocol systems for specific sectors such as banking, post offices and large companies, or for the development of ODM products for specific customers, or for the development of products, such as our recent wireless siren, created as a joint design with Venitem".

Politec also confirms this trend: "The R&D laboratory makes use of in-house teamwork between three engineers specialised in electronics as well as outside cooperation in specific cases, whilst partnering with other production units actually leads us to create OEM products with greater added value".

"There are currently eight people employed in the in-house R&D lab, to which outside consultants must be added ." - AMC Elettronica reports - "Our in-house laboratory is staffed by electronic and computer technicians. They are specialists in writing firmware and creating electronic hardware. In recent years, the skills required are also those related to networks and cloud systems. Often, when producing items, we participate in technical studies for other suppliers in order to best optimize the product. Recently, for example, we have cooperated with the American manufacturer of Fresnel lenses, in order to produce a high performance lens for our new indoor sensors".

FROM PROJECT TO PRODUCT

But in what direction is this research activity going? What are the achievements you are most proud of and that make you stand out in the market?

"There are a lot of projects that have been and are important." - Axel explains - "If I have to mention just one, very important one was the development of Axeta®, our protocol for radio systems. Axel's Axeta® is, to our knowledge, the only system in the security sector to have been granted an industrial patent four years ago. We developed a solid high level wireless platform system, based on the DSSS type Spread Spectrum transmission, upon which our encrypted bidirectional transmission algorithm is carried. It has very high resistance to jamming attempts, with a wide range and very low power consumption. We continue to design peripheral equipment of all kinds to constantly increase the range of Axeta® devices, since wireless systems are becoming more and more important and widely used in the security world, and since the need for reliable, high-level professional systems is growing."

For Politec, the greatest achievement is to have offered the market a range of products that combine effectiveness with simple management: "Through research, we have been able to create and successfully offer the market increasingly reliable and high-performance products whose most obvious advantage is ease of installation and configuration, thanks to the SMA (Single Man Alignment) feature and the possibility of connecting our own products through a communication subs that enables simple management and checking. Another feather in Politec's cap, made entirely within its own R&D department, is the detector that uses a triaxial accelerometer and can detect attempts at intrusion and/or violation both by cutting and tampering with protected elements and surfaces".

 AMC Elettronica also believes in the power of simplicity: "Definitely the target for the next few years is to make products that are user-friendly. We believe that the market is moving to products that are essential but above all easy to program with the help of Apps."

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT’S RESILIENCE FACTOR

These months have been challenging, but companies have not stood still, even when they have actually had to suffer stoppages. We continue to work on new ideas and new aims to strive for, in which the R&D department acts as a driving force.

“Unfortunately, because of our business sector coding, we were forced to shut down for two months," explains Axel , "But during that time we worked remotely and, to be honest, detachment from the everyday grind enabled us to explore new fields, ideas, and theoretical foundations for a number of very innovative projects to be put in place once we returned to more human ways of working. We are in fact already working on this and we expect to present some very interesting news at SICUREZZA 2021, where we will be present with our large island stand in the usual and traditional location in all recent instances".

 Politec also wanted to turn necessity into a virtue: "Our focus has changed and broadened, towards developing all those technologies applicable to external perimeter anti-intrusion protection, which can allow greater presence and an increased ability to meet the demands of a large part of our customers."

The return to normal work is therefore a time that companies want to prepare for: "Never as in this time have we found ourselves betting on the future with investments in R&D to enable us to be ready to exploit the opportunities at the relaunch of the economic system" - AMC Elettronica actually concluded.