ETSI Conference: European Telecommunications Standards Institute, Antibes (by Katerina Mavrona)
For the specialist community interested in cybersecurity standardization in Europe, visiting Sophia Antipolis, home to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, better known as ETSI, is something of a rite of passage. Set among rolling, pine-clad hills overlooking the Mediterranean, the sublime location of this leading European technology park hardly hints at the highly technical work taking place within it. Founded in the early 1970s as a science and knowledge centre , Sophia Antipolis took its name from the ancient Greek Antipolis trading post, the predecessor of modern-day Antibes, located along the Côte d’Azur’s historic maritime routes. Its architects leaned into this lineage, shaping the technopole as a space where technology, innovation and commerce could meet. Today it hosts around 2,500 companies and organisations across sectors from biotechnology and fintech to cybersecurity. Its strong ICT and telecommunications orientation, already emerging in the late 198...