Alfonso Fuggetta, CEO of CEFRIEL

Nowadays, innovation is a main political and economical issue in Italy, but it sometimes seems that discussion is too much while action not enough. Some people claim that the characteristics of our country prevent certain approaches from being applicable. According to them, what is really able to make our country successful and competitive is different from the ability to invest in research and innovation.

However, facts contrast with such opinions. Surveys conducted by TEDIS on an extensive set of Italian companies show quite evidently that investing in innovation determines a higher increase in the turnover and a better EBIT/turnover ratio. On the contrary, the lack of pushing for innovation turns out to be a disadvantage for companies that risk to be left behind in the market. As a consequence of this, innovation is not only convenient, but in many cases it is the only chance to face international competition. The real problem for many companies is to know how and with whom to innovate.

Moreover it is necessary to rediscover the ability and courage to invest and risk. These are delicate and critical issues, especially for the small and medium enterprises. They need support from many points of view: efficient public services, a "working" territory, adequate human resources and, without a doubt, universities able both to educate qualified students and proactively sustain companies' innovation processes.

It is also necessary to have specialized partners able to advance the innovation process through centres of "innovation engineering". These centres are capable of transforming the results of basic research into successful industrial products, with an open and international vision. It would be a mistake to consider these centres in competition with the companies' R&D departments. They are complementary to in-house innovation capabilities and can give a boost towards the global market. In centres like CEFRIEL, new approaches and methods responding to such goals and challenges are constantly experimented and consolidated. Universities tend to work with a monodisciplinary focus, centred on a technological push: each single professor or research team does research studies with a free approach and then tries to transfer the results to the market. In many cases this approach is not able to satisfy the market requirements. Companies are typically multi-disciplinary and do not necessarily start from the challenges of leading edge research, but they usually ask to start from market trendsand demands. This is the reason why at CEFRIEL we work according to a demand and design driven process, fully enhancing a multi-disciplinary approach which integrates electronics, information and communication technology, automation and control. If necessary, these competences are strengthened through the cooperation with the colleagues from the associated Universities (Politecnico di Milano, Università degli Studi di Milano, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca).

Innovation is a challenge involving the whole of Italy. CEFRIEL has embraced this challenge and, for its part, is going to give a continuous and steady contribution to support companies and public administration of the Country.