By Matteo Zaccagnino Editor-in-chief
A game still to be played where nothing is won
Once again, the news coming from overseas is the talk of the town. As already mentioned at the Discovering Miami International Boat Show, the talk was not about the new boats on display but the ‘concerns’ related to the path taken by the new Trump administration. Leaving aside the reasons behind these choices, the focus is on the possible side effects and the impact they could have on all sectors, including the nautical industry. This is no small matter, at least judging from the words of Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the NMMA (National Marine Manufacturers Association), in his traditional speech at the opening of the Miami Boat Show. ‘While the new administration finalises its approach to tariffs and trade agreements, the NMMA is already working to ensure that recreational boat builders have a seat at the table, are protected and positioned for growth both here in North America and abroad, and I can tell you that it will be a difficult road,’ said Hugelmeyer.
‘International cooperation between businesses and government will be fundamental to stabilise the global economy and trade. Rest assured that the NMMA is already working with the new Trump administration, as well as with the Canadian government and the EU, to promote an agenda in favour of growth, production and, above all, boating,’ Hugelmeyer added. The scenario is evolving and everything is yet to be deciphered. In the meantime, analysts have set to work to understand the order of magnitude that this new trade war could generate.
The 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports have ended up in the spotlight. At first glance, this seems to be a matter that has nothing to do with the nautical world. However, history teaches us that we have already experienced something similar to what we are witnessing today in the past. More specifically, in 2018. At the time, a similar choice led the EU to take countermeasures and apply a 25% tariff on all products imported into EU countries as a retaliatory measure. The first effect was a drastic drop in imports of boats produced in the United States. It was a brief and painful interlude. A trial of strength and a tug-of-war that was not convenient for either party. To the point of pushing the two actors at first to abolish tariffs for a period of two years and, in 2023, to extend this moratorium until 31 March 2025. Now, however, all eyes are back on the calendar. The date to keep an eye on is 12 March, when the new tariffs decided by Trump will come into force. It’s a safe bet, as can be seen from the news in recent days, that the EU will not sit back and do nothing, and that new countermeasures are already being studied. In short, we’re back to square one.
The stakes are still very high. According to the latest data collected and published in the latest edition of Nautica in Cifre, the statistical yearbook produced by the Confindustria Nautica Studies Office in partnership with the Edison Foundation, and with the patronage of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, it appears that the American market represents the first non-EU item for Italian nautical exports, with 18%. In terms of turnover, the United States is worth 772.8 million euros. In short, we are all in the same boat and let’s hope that words are followed by actions.
Artificial intelligence vs. creative intelligence
It has now become not only an economic issue but also a political one. In recent days the debate around Artificial Intelligence has flared up. To the point of becoming a matter of national interest. Proof of this was the recent Paris Summit which certainly did not achieve the objective of setting rules but, at least, brought out the need to tackle the issue in a coordinated way. Hence the announcement by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to allocate 200 billion euros on this front in order to play the game at the same table with the United States and China. But, leaving aside the purely political and economic aspects, the aspect that is closest to my heart concerns the ethical question. AI is certainly a precious resource, provided it is handled with great care. Its arrival will revolutionise, I would add once again, our existence and our habits. At work as well as in our private lives.
A bit like the computer and then the Internet first appeared on the scene. Without forgetting the smartphone, the extreme synthesis of these two technologies. Returning to AI, the question is not so much how useful it is – we already know that – but how best to use it in all disciplines, including yacht design. Could it represent a dangerous shortcut? Creativity, understood as human expression par excellence, based on emotions, intuition and experience, seemed impossible to replicate through algorithms and computational processes. However, the evolution of AI is redefining this belief, raising crucial questions: can AI and creativity coexist? Is it an opportunity for growth or a risk to artistic expression and human thought? AI, thanks to technologies such as deep learning and generative neural networks, has already demonstrated the ability to produce works of art, musical compositions and even film scripts. Algorithms such as DALL·E for image generation, ChatGPT for creative writing and AIVA for music show how machines can generate content that, at first glance, seems to be the result of human ingenuity. But is it true creativity? Or are we dealing with a reworking of existing data? The answer could lie in the way AI is used: as a tool to amplify human creativity or as a substitute for artistic inspiration? It’s too early to say. In my opinion, it certainly represents a great opportunity and at the same time a dangerous threat. The future of the relationship between AI and creativity may not be one of competition, but of collaboration.
Artificial intelligence could become an extension of human thought, a virtual laboratory in which to test ideas and develop new art forms. The balance between human intuition and algorithmic calculation could give rise to a new creative paradigm, in which man and machine work together to push the boundaries of the imagination. But with the human factor always at the centre of the creative process. In this sense, the speech given by Flavio Manzoni remains a cornerstone for me. Last year, the Chief Designer Office of Ferrari gave a lecture at the University of Florence, which awarded him an honorary master’s degree in Design. On that occasion, the designer from the Maranello company gave a speech that must be a valuable source of inspiration for all those who want to embark on this professional path: ‘Design was a way of understanding reality and above all of making the beauty of the world my own… Design is applied art. On the one hand there is the aspect of imagination, on the other the somewhat more earthly aspect of application, of concreteness. For me, a project always starts from a vision, from an abstraction, not necessarily from a finished object. Then, little by little, it takes on a more precise identity when the marriage is created between form, formal beauty and function, or in the case of a Ferrari, performance’. No less important is what Giorgetto Giugiaro said in an interview that recently appeared in the newspaper Il Foglio: ’Today the computer helps, but when you have an idea, it’s quicker to jot down a sketch…’
