A tech-savvy Italian schoolboy who died in 2006 is to become the first saint from the millennial generation in the Catholic Church on Sunday. Carlo Acutis has been dubbed “God’s influencer” and the “saint in sneakers.” The curly-haired Italian youngster died from leukemia aged 15 but is still celebrated by Catholics for how he put his web skills to use to promote his faith. Having begun coding at the age of eight, Acutis used his programming skills to build websites for the Church, including a site listing all reported miracles. As the Church struggles to connect with young people, Acutis represents a relatable role model, an example of how to evangelize in the digital age. The Church is increasingly recognizing the power of influencers who speak the language of Gen Z on video-sharing platforms like TikTok, and who can counter the Church’s perception of being outdated. Last month the Vatican hosted an event for 1,000 digital missionaries and Catholic influencers as part of its Holy Year celebrations. Catholics influencers have also been credited with a recent surge in young adult and teenage baptisms in countries including France. Initially scheduled for April 27, Acutis’ canonization at the Vatican was postponed when Pope Francis died. Pope Leo XIV is set to lead the mass and canonization in St. Peter’s Square, along with that of another young person, Pier Giorgio Frassati.  Critics have claimed that Acutis’ popularity, which has generated a multitude of books and documentaries about his life, is the result of a marketing campaign from the Church made possible by his family’s wealth and connections. But the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints said Acutis is part of a group of younger people that have been or are to be recognised by the church as evangelists. “Acutis’ canonization, strongly desired by Pope Francis, is not intended to acclaim him as a theologian. … It is intended to demonstrate that even today young Christians can live the Gospel faith in a consistent and all-encompassing way and have a relationship with Christ,” the dicastery wrote. Acutis’ death preceded the rise of social media like Facebook, Instagram and others. But, unlike most other saints, his followers can still watch videos of him talking about his faith. Acutis was moved to the city of Assisi in Umbria in 2017, where his tomb lies. Fittingly, he can be seen through its glass-sided casket on a web camera 24 hours a day, his body dressed in jeans, Nike sneakers and a sweatshirt. More pilgrims come to Assisi to visit Acutis’ tomb than that of St. Francis, buried in the same city, according to the local church. The Church’s newest saint “was well aware that the whole apparatus of communications, advertising and social networking can be used to lull us, to make us addicted to consumerism,” Pope Francis wrote in a 2019 apostolic exhortation, a document on papal teaching. “Yet he knew how to use new technology to transmit the Gospel.”

Blockages in the technology innovation pipeline and digital skills shortages were just some of the topics discussed by industry stakeholders during a DSEI-hosted roundtable held in July. Chaired by the UK minister for defense procurement, Maria Eagle, attendees included the likes of KX, Forcys, Dell and Amazon Web Services, all of which are attending DSEI UK 2025. The theme of the roundtable was ‘developing defense technology at pace to meet modern battlefield requirements’, a key theme at this year’s DSEI UK. Under the banner of this overarching theme, four sub-themes were discussed by the group as company representatives directed questions and suggestions toward the minister. The minister opened the proceedings by outlining the priorities of the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD), calling the current moment a “pivotal” one for UK defense as the country looks to return to warfighting readiness. Technology will be central to this move and the UK is set on becoming a leading “tech-enabled defense superpower by 2035,” she said, with priorities based on the lessons learned in Ukraine. Changes like these will require some changes in the government’s approach to technology, though. “We’ve got to innovate at the speed of technology … there’s no point taking six years to get to contract on a drone — you’d just be contracting to put it in the museum,” she added. > We’ve got to innovate at the speed of technology … there’s no point taking six > years to get to contract on a drone — you’d just be contracting to put it in > the museum. Changing the way the UK government acquires and utilizes innovative defense technology at speed and scale will require stronger collaboration between government and industry, however, and there is still some way to go to ensure this relationship works, according to industry stakeholders at the roundtable. Bolstering the innovation pipeline A major hurdle for defense firms is navigating the ‘valley of death’ — the time between developing an initial concept and the point at which the company starts to see returns on its investment. Businesses need considerable support to stay liquid and avoid bankruptcy in this period. “I think part of the challenge that we’ve identified is taking an operational concept demonstrator, which we’ve been involved with in defense, and bringing that into core [military programs],” a representative from KX, a software company based in Northern Ireland, said. “[It’s] the valley of death or the cup of opportunity, as I call it — and nobody seems to be drinking from that cup,” the representative said. “A lot of attention goes to the SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] and the concept demonstration, and the primes get a huge amount of attention at the other end of the scale, but dragging those concept demonstrators into a core program, that seems to be a key challenge, and it would be great to understand how that can be accelerated so that concepts don’t just wither on the vine.” Eagle recognized that concept demonstrators are sometimes shelved with “no follow up,” noting that the “valley of death has been a big problem.” To address this, the UK is “establishing UK innovation,” with the goal of getting “new ideas and concepts, and new ways of doing things to the warfighter.” Company representatives and moderator gathered at DSEI UK roundtable.  Is there enough support for SMEs? Another portion of the roundtable focused on how SMEs position in the defense ecosystem can be further supported, particularly by other key stakeholders such as the UK MoD and DSEI UK. Eagle noted the UK government’s plans to establish an SME hub in the “not too [distant] future” to provide smaller defense tech companies with assistance for working in the sector and with the MoD. A representative from Forcys welcomed plans to establish an SME hub but did push back against the minister, arguing that many of these initiatives designed to fund innovation do not come with “sufficient money.” “The average DASA [Defence and Security Accelerator] award is £50,000 to £100,000 — its buttons to what’s actually required to develop something at pace and really develop it properly, rather than just playing into it,” the representative argued. The representative also rallied against the problems faced by Forcys due to its size, given it is defined neither as an SME nor a prime. This means it doesn’t get the support infrastructure afforded to smaller firms or the advantages that come with having the scale of a prime.   The future of dual use and next-gen skills issues Looking ahead, stakeholders at the roundtable also discussed what the future might look like for the defense industry, given the changing nature of dual-use technology and the concerning digital skills gaps in the sector. > Stakeholders at the roundtable also discussed what the future might look like > for the defense industry, given the changing nature of dual-use technology and > the concerning digital skills gaps. Understanding the defense supply chain is crucial on the dual-use front, according to a representative from PQShield. They pointed to the untapped potential in dual-use, explaining that many companies don’t know how to sell to the defense industry. “We’re struggling to pitch it to defense right now because we don’t know the best place to go,” the representative said, speaking about PQShield’s cryptography products and solutions. Discussion also turned to the difficulties the defense industry faces in acquiring workers with the right skills or having access to graduates and those early in their careers. “We’re being outgunned by gaming, by fintech, by the finance industry — we’re not getting the best people. We say we do, we don’t because we just simply can’t pay for them,” said Rob Taylor, founder of training technology firm 4GD. Adding to this point, the representative from KX said that they would like to see schools doing more to incentivize students to seek out technology jobs. A good approach would be to start from year seven or even younger, they said. Eagle agreed that the skills issue is “tremendously important,” adding that the UK’s skills system has not worked as well as it could for some time and that many industries are suffering the same skills shortages. “As we’ve had the last few years, where you’ve got a war on our doorstep and things like that going on, there’s been a shift back towards understanding the value of defense. But there’s some ways still to go, so we’ve got more work to do on that,” Eagle said.