2017

Conversations with

Italian business leaders at the forefront of innovation

T R I P L E I Italian Imaginative Innovators

2

Concept

Italian Imaginative Innovators (Triple I) is a programme run by the

Embassy of Italy in London. The initiative was launched in 2016 with the

aim of showcasing successful Italian entrepreneurs who have

demonstrated particular vision and innovation. It consists of a series of

conversations between entrepreneurs – start-up founders, CEOs, and

managers – and journalists who are experts in economics and finance,

exploring the entrepreneurs’ ambitions, the challenges they have

encountered, the creative solutions they have found and the insights

they have gained along the way.

The Italian private sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience over

the last decade. Many of its businesses have not simply survived the

global economic crisis but used it as an opportunity to redefine and

nurture their strengths and develop flexibility, emerging stronger than

ever and punching well above their weight on international markets.

This has been a major factor in Italy’s status as the second-largest

manufacturer in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world and its

position as the second-largest European exporter.

Italy’s private sector continues to evolve, driven by global growth and

by improvements in production processes, expansion of exports,

effective corporate governance and greater openness to the financial

markets.

The 2017 Triple I series presented a diverse cross-section of

entrepreneurs and managers representing companies of varying type,

size and turnover but with one thing in common: an ambition to achieve

excellence and international competitiveness through innovation.

Pasquale Q. Terracciano, Ambassador of Italy to the UK

December 2017

3

Innovating in the cables industry

Valerio Battista and Sarah Gordon

25 January 2017, Embassy of Italy

Valerio Battista is the

CEO of Prysmian Group,

a world leader in the

energy and telecom

cable systems industry.

With over 20 years’

experience in the

industrial sector

(including with the

Pirelli Group), Battista

led the merger of

Prysmian and Draka to

create the Prysmian

Group, the most

profitable corporate

group in its industry.

Sarah Gordon has

worked for the Financial

Times for over 15 years

in various high-

responsibility roles and

is currently its business

editor and on of its

associate editors. She

previously worked in

emerging-markets fund

management for

Citigroup and as an

economic and political

analyst for Foreign &

Colonial.

4

Outline of the event

The Prysmian Group is the global leader in the manufacture and

installation of cables for energy and telecommunications. It has 91

production plants in 50 countries, 17 research and development

centres and over 19,000 employees. It owes its success in large part to

the broadness of its shareholder base, a model that is virtually unique

in Italy.

The story of Prysmian illustrates the importance of expansion through

consolidation and acquisitions. The company inherited Pirelli Cavi in

2005, and expanded following its flotation on the Milan stock exchange

in 2007, acquiring Draka, a Dutch cable manufacturer, in 2011.

The value of technological innovation in helping the company keep

pace with its customers’ demands was also clear.

“We just dress copper,” said Valerio Battista, the CEO of Prysmian.

“But the demand for data transfer in cables increases by a factor of 10

every year. So there must be some innovation even in dressing

copper.”

The conversation also touched upon the uncertainties that the private

sector has to deal with, arising from the Brexit referendum, the election

of Donald Trump, and the evolving dynamics of the Chinese market,

and how these uncertainties require companies to adopt strategies that

can be adapted to a wide range of markets and circumstances.

5

Cable networks: the world’s nervous system

About 99% of

global internet

traffic is carried

by underground

and undersea cables.

The total network

of undersea

telecommunication

cables covers more

than 885,000km

Submarine

cables are laid using special cable-

laying ships

6

SAPEI, which

connects Sardinia to

the Italian mainland, is the deepest

submarine cable in

the world.

It was manufactured by Prysmian.

Innovative solutions

developed by

Prysmian

Pry-Cam ® partial

discharge measurement

and monitoring

system

Afumex® fire-resistant

cables

Intellitent Protolon

system for monitoring cable wear

BendBrightXS bend-

resistant optical fibre

7

Competing in the industry of transport components

Paolo Scudieri and Angela Antetomaso 23 February 2017, Embassy of Italy

Paolo Scudieri is the CEO

of the Adler Group, the

second largest player

worldwide in designing and

developing components

and systems for the

transport industry. He took

over as head of the family

business in 1992 and led its

expansion. He has received

numerous awards for his

work, including the 2016 EY

Entrepreneur of the Year

prize, in recognition of his

contribution to the growth of

the company, research and

innovation.

Angela Antetomaso is a

television presenter with

Class CNBC, the Italian-

language channel of CNBC.

She previously worked at

CNN International in New

York and at Bloomberg TV in

New York and London. She

provides daily financial

updates to Italian television

channels including Tg5,

TG.com and SkyTg24. She

also sits on the board of

directors of the master’s

programme in management

at Cass Business School, City

University.

8

Outline of the event

The Adler Group began life in 1956 as a small laboratory in the family

home, where Scudieri’s father manufactured polymers. In the years

that followed, the company expanded its production to include new

rigid polyurethane materials for padding and insulation, and it began

exporting its products.

Scudieri became CEO in 1990 and, driven by his passion for

automobiles, he led the expansion of the company’s product range to

cater specifically for the automotive and aerospace industries. Under

his leadership, Adler became a group of international renown in an

extremely competitive sector.

Campania, the southern-Italian region in which the Adler Group is

rooted, is rarely accorded the recognition it merits for manufacturing

distinction and innovation. As a world-renowned manufacturer, Adler

offers an excellent model and inspiration for entrepreneurs from the

south of Italy seeking to move into international markets.

9

The automotive sector: a hotbed of innovation

Trends to watch for:

Predictive

analytics

For efficiency in

supply chains,

fleet management

and vehicle design

3D printing

Replacement

parts will be

just a click away

Internet of

things

Web-enabled vehicles

New safety

standards

Connected and

automated vehicles

will mean a need to

protect vehicles and

infrastructures from being hacked

Digital

infrastructure

Automotive

companies will

become more

efficient through

technological optimisation

Custom-

designed

vehicles

Manufacturers

will produce

vehicles in

batches of 1

10

The lesser-known side of southern Italy: tech

excellence and innovation

•Masmec: Robotics for the automotive and biomedical sectors

•Blackshape: Carbon-fibre light aircraft

•Mermec: Diagnostics, signalling and asset management for the railway industry

Leaders in transport tech

•EggPlant: Bioplastics from wastewater through zero-impact process (Best Project 2014 Dublin Web Summit)

•Nextome: Indoor positioning software

•LifeBand: Ankle band for remote monitoring of individuals at risk of falling (AXA Italia South For Tomorrow finalist)

Start-up culture

•Campania is Italy's largest employer in aeronautics

•The sector created 1,500 new jobs in five years in Puglia alone

•Together, Campania and Puglia account for 31% of the country's turnover in the sector

A booming aeronautics industry

11

Setting benchmarks in fashion and design

Giulio Cappellini, Maurizio Pecoraro

and Daniela Agnelli

15 March 2017, Istituto Marangoni – London

Maurizio Pecoraro is a fashion

designer. He joined Gianni Versace’s

creative team while still a student and

in 1989 Versace appointed him as

artistic director of Alma. In 1998 he

debuted his first signature collection

and in 2001 he oversaw the launch of

the Valentino Roma line.

Giulio Cappellini trained as an

architect and is currently the art

director at the Istituto Marangoni as

well as being the art director and

visiting professor at a number of

other arts institutes around the world.

He is also the founder of the

Cappellini furniture brand.

Daniela Agnelli is a fashion editor-

at-large for the Telegraph Magazine

as well as being a fashion consultant

and creative director. She works for

publications in the UK and the US,

including Marie Claire, InStyle, Red

and Harper’s Bazaar. She was fashion

director for the launch of Vogue

Arabia.

12

Outline of the event

This Triple I conversation, which coincided with Italian Design Day,

was held at the London campus of the Istituto Marangoni, a design and

fashion school. It was the first Triple I event in which the speakers were

artists and the first to be held outside the Italian embassy.

The participants discussed entrepreneurial issues in furnishings and

fashion, an alternative approach in industries where it is traditionally

the creative aspects that are emphasised. In particular they noted the

rise of e-commerce as a business model in the fashion sector.

They also discussed the value of artisanal tradition in Italian products,

highlighting the importance of creating original products rather than

succumbing to the temptation of trying to appeal to a broader customer

base by producing cheaper but lower-quality goods.

13

Italian fashion and design: championing tradition,

leading innovation.

With an estimated value of $2.3 trillion, if

the fashion and design

industry were a

country, it would have the seventh-largest

economy in the world.

The global

revenues of fashion

ecommerce are

estimated to have been $408 billion in

2017, with an

expected growth of 73% by 2022.

The apparel, fashion,

and luxury sector outperformed the

market over the past

decade, exceeding

even technology

companies.

Yoox Net-A-Porter

Group, an Italian

unicorn founded by

Federico Marchetti, is

one of the world’s largest online

fashion and luxury

retailers.

14

Exploding demand in fashion, design and luxury goods

driven by rapidly growing middle classes in emerging markets

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 22000Me

dia

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om

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th o

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01

5-

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30

pe

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Forecast median income in 2030, US$ per household

Top five emerging middle classes

(2015-2020)

India Indonesia

China

Philippines

Nigeria

15

Driving digital innovation

Riccardo Zacconi and Massimo Sideri

26 June 2017, Embassy of Italy

Riccardo Zacconi is the

co-founder and CEO of

King, a social-media and

mobile-gaming company

made famous by the game

Candy Crush Saga. He has

worked in Germany for the

Boston Consulting Group

and in London for Spray, an

internet startup which was

later bought by Lycos

Europe, and for Benchmark

Capital. In 2003 he co-

founded King.com and in

2015 he sold King Digital

Entertainment to Activision

for $5.9bn.

Massimo Sideri is an author

and journalist and is the

innovation editor for the

Corriere della Sera. He has

reported on the financial

scandals in industry and

football and on the socio-

economic consequences of

technological progress and

relationships between

humans and artificial

intelligence. He won the Mi

Faccio Impresa prize for his

articles on start-ups. He is the

director of the Galileo

Innovation Festival in Padua.

16

Outline of the event Whereas the previous Triple I events focused on sectors that are well-

established in Italy – energy, communications, transport and fashion –

this event showcased a cutting-edge industry which has a much lower

profile among Italian entrepreneurs: creative high-tech.

Diverging from the approach of the previous events, which showed

how even mature sectors still offer openings for innovation, this Triple I

highlighted the opportunities offered by a relatively new, fast-moving

industry.

Zacconi and Sideri discussed the enormous potential of Italian start-

ups, which enjoy plentiful funding, creative ideas and risk capacity.

They observed that by harnessing these resources, the start-ups can

target international markets, even in the early stages of their

development, not just following technological progress but shaping it.

17

Italy: centuries of technological innovation behind us…

1700

1800

1900

2000

Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)

Electric battery

Antonio Meucci (1808-1889)

Telephone

Giovanni Caselli (1815-1891)

Fax machine

Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)

Radio transmission

Pier Giorgio Perotto (1930-2002) Personal computer

Federico Faggin (1941-)

Microprocessor

Leonardo Chiariglione (1943-)

MP3 music format

18

... and a digital renaissance ahead of us.

Italy was ranked

second by

Technology Report

for tax policy

supporting

innovation, thanks to

the government’s

Industry 4.0 plan.

40% of Italian

manufacturing

companies use 3-D

printers for fast

prototyping, and 25% use robotics in the

manufacturing process

Milan, one of

Europe’s most

inspirational smart

cities, leads the way

in integrated and

sustainable urban

ecosystems.

19

SMEs: a pool of entrepreneurial talent

Marco Albasini, Giovanni Cogliati, Maurizio Galante,

Rino Liborio Galante and Angela Antetomaso

10 November 2017, Embassy of Italy

Marco Albasini is

COO and Qualified

Person (QP) at

Lameplast, where

he is responsible

for contract

manufacturing, R&D

the and regulatory

department of the

Group and for the

release of

pharmaceuticals

and medical

devices.

Giovanni Cogliati

is sales manager

and ownership

member at

Elemaster, where

he is responsible

for business

development and

marketing

activities for

Europe and the US.

He is part of the

second generation

of the family to run

the company.

Maurizio Galante

is the general

manager of OMP

Mechtron Spa, a

leader in

customised

mechanical and

electronic

solutions, and the

COO of OMP

Group. He has 20

years’ managerial

experience in

global enterprises.

Rino Liborio Galante is the

founder and CEO of

Metalgalante, a concrete-mixer

manufacturer. Having begun

his career as international sales

manager for a cement-mixer

manufacturer, he has almost 50

years’ experience in the

industry.

Angela Antetomaso is a

financial journalist and a

presenter with Class CNBC, as

well as a member of the board

of directors of the master’s

programme in management at

Cass Business School,

University of London.

20

Outline of the event This was the first Triple I event to feature multiple entrepreneurs, all of

them heads of SMEs, who each described the challenges that their

businesses had encountered and how they had overcome them.

Although each company’s experiences were different, an element

emerged that was common to all of them: an assertive approach to

globalised production, taking it not as a challenge but as an

opportunity. Their strategies included, for example, outsourcing

production to China, the US and India. It became clear from the

discussion that this openness to global markets is a key factor in

creating opportunities for growth.

SMEs play a crucial role in Italy’s productive fabric, given their long

history of offering extremely high-quality goods and services, in

sectors ranging from mechanics and agroindustry to jewellery and

fashion. Their constant innovation and reinvention of themselves has

made them extremely resilient, allowing them not just to survive but to

thrive throughout the crisis that Italy is finally leaving behind it.

21

SMEs: Italy’s economic powerhouses

STAR,

the segment of the Italian stock exchange reserved for midsize

companies with capitalization of under €1bn,

consistently outperforms the market.

Italy’s economy is overwhelmingly driven by SMEs, many of them family-owned.

They operate on a much larger scale than comparable companies in many other

countries, frequently entering the international market, with remarkable success,

at an early stage of their development.

22

Italian midsize companies: an evolving global footprint

EU

64%

Rest of Europe

6%

North

America

10%

Central and

South America

10%

Asia

4%

Rest of world

6%

1998

EU

50%

Rest of Europe

8%

North

America

11%

Central and

South America

8%

Asia

19%

Rest of world

5%

2015

23

Food, as only Italians know how

Luigi Scordamaglia and Francine Lacqua

21 November 2017, Embassy of Italy

Luigi Scordamaglia is the

CEO of Inalca S.p.A., a

European leader in the

meat packing and

distribution sector with a

turnover of €2bn.

He is also the president of

Federalimentare, the

federation representing the

Italian food and drink

industry.

He sits on the boards of

numerous bodies

promoting Italian trade

abroad. He also has

prominent roles in

associations representing

the meat industry at Italian

and European level.

He holds a PhD in

veterinary science and a

postgraduate certificate in

corporate finance.

Francine Lacqua is an

award-winning anchor and

editor-at-large for Bloomberg

Television. She has

interviewed numerous high-

profile public figures,

including David Cameron,

Christine Lagarde, Mario

Monti and Mario Draghi.

She co-hosts "The Pulse with

Guy Johnson and Francine

Lacqua," covering top

international business,

economic and market-

moving stories from

Bloomberg Television's

London studio.

She also hosts "Eye to Eye," a

special series where she talks

to top CEOs, entrepreneurs

and public figures as they

ride the London Eye, one of

the world’s most iconic ferris

wheels.

24

Outline of the event

This Triple I event coincided with Italian Cuisine Week, an initiative run

by the Italian government to promote Italian food culture around the

world.

Italy’s status as a food superpower is universally recognised and was

the basis for the theme of Expo 2015, hosted by Milan: “Feeding the

world, energy for life”. Expo 2015 gave rise to the Charter of Milan,

which outlines the importance of food security and sustainability and

citizens’ rights and duties in this regard.

The food and drink sector plays a pivotal role in strengthening

relations between Italy and the UK: Italy’s exports of food and drink

products have increased steadily in recent years. The food and food-

tech industries have a particular need for a combination of tradition

and innovation in order to remain globally competitive, a skill in which

Italian businesses excel.

The conversation highlighted the importance of SMEs in the food and

drink sector and Federalimentare’s role in helping these SMEs, the

backbone of Italian productive capacity, compete at a global level.

Despite the maturity of the food and drink sector, there is still

enormous potential for technological innovation, as evidenced by the

development of new technologies and satellite agriculture which have

increased yields while saving resources. Such innovation and vision is

particularly vital in light of the growing global demand for food, which

will have to be met with ever fewer resources.

25

Italy: a leader in food…

0 2000 4000 6000 8000

Wine, beverages and vinegar

Pasta products

Fresh fruit

Preserved fruit and vegetables

Dairy products

Oils and fats

Meat

Cocoa and cocoa products

Vegetables

Coffee, tea and spices

Italian food exports in 2016

(€ million)

In 2017, Italy’s

food and

beverage exports were

worth €40bn

Target for 2020:

€50bn

26

… and food tech

Improve nutrient

absorption

Enhance flavour

Control traceability of products

Increase shelf life

Improve hygiene

Italy’s fast-moving

nanotechnology

industry develops

solutions to:

One in five food-packing

machines sold around the world is made in Italy

The food-tech business in

Italy is worth €135bn

27

A strategic role in the energy sector

Marco Alverà, Nick Butler,

Peter Mandelson and Alessandra Galloni

6 December 2017, Embassy of Italy

Marco Alverà is the CEO of

SNAM, a European leader in

the construction and

management of natural-gas

infrastructure. He is also

managing director of SNAM

Rete Gas and interim head

of SNAM Industrial Assets.

He began his career in

private equity and M&A and

in 2000 founded Netesi,

Italy’s first broadband ADSL

company.

Nick Butler is a visiting

professor and chair of the

Kings Policy Institute at Kings

College London. He

previously spent 29 years

with BP. He has also served as

senior policy adviser to the

British prime minister,

chairman of the Centre for

European Reform, and

treasurer of the Fabian

Society.

Peter Mandelson, a

member of the House of

Lords, is a former European

trade commissioner and

British first secretary of

state. He holds high-level

managerial and advisory

positions in a number of

organisations.

Alessandra Galloni is the

global news editor at

Thomson Reuters and

currently oversees coverage

of Southern Europe. She

previously worked for the

Wall Street Journal. She has

won a number of awards for

her reporting.

28

Outline of the event

This Triple I event focused on sustainability in the energy sector. The

subject was particularly topical, as the COP23 conference and the

presentation of the publication World Energy Outlook had been held the previous month in Bonn and Vienna respectively.

Initiatives such as these, complemented by reports from individual

companies, such as the Global Gas Report 2017 by SNAM, illustrate the

crucial importance of the energy sector and the key role that it plays in ensuring a sustainable future.

The conversation highlighted Italy’s pivotal role in the European gas

market and in ensuring a sustainable energy future in Europe, as well

as the active role played by both the UK and Italy in the process of

decarbonisation.

29

Italy: not held back by a lack of fossil resources

Italy enjoys a strategic position

at the crossroads

between the

Russian and North

African pipelines.

Eni, Italy’s largest

provider, is in the global top 10 of

natural-gas

distributors in terms

of quantities and

market capitalisation.

The GALSI

pipeline, due to

be completed in

2018, will carry

gas from Algeria

to Italy.

Despite having no

fossil resources,

Italy is the fifth most

productive

manufacturing

economy in the world.

30

17.1% of Italy’s

energy consumption

came from

renewable sources in 2015…

…and 45.9% of the

country’s electricity

consumption was

from sustainable production…

…while its proportion

of electricity

production that came from solar energy

was the highest in the world.

Italy is home to Europe’s largest

photovoltaic

plant, in the

province of

Rovigo

31

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innovation-in-the-auto-industry/#23c52dbd4e2c

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mp3-3.png

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Venti Anni di Medie imprese: Cosa è Stato, Cosa Poteva Essere, Cosa

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32

Acknowledgements

Triple I - Italian Imaginative Innovators

Conversations with Italian business leaders at the forefront of

innovation

An initiative launched and promoted by Pasquale Q. Terracciano, Ambassador of Italy to the UK.

Concept, organisation and development: Dante Brandi, Head of Economic Office and Alternate Executive

Director for Italy at the EBRD

A special thanks to the Economic Office permanent and

temporary team for their role in organising the 2017 series and

producing this Triple I booklet:

Emilio Binst Lara Milwid

Andrea Caravita di Toritto Francesco Peserico

Guglielmo Caggiano Maria Grazia Quagliarella

Matilde Durazzano Salvatore Sabatino

Angelo Formiggini Alice Tumidei

Arianna Gentilini

With special thanks to:

Tancredi Intelligent Communication Ltd

www.tancredigroup.com

33

Find us on:

http://www.amblondra.esteri.it/ambasciata_londra/en/ambasciata/eventi-

contenuti/triple-i

https://www.facebook.com/ItalianEmbassyLondon

https://twitter.com/ItalyinUK

https://www.instagram.com/italianembassylondon/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133872064@N08/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtbisZfL4zI0QiFNgjV2kGw/videos

2017