Research and entrepreneurship: between public and private

Objective: innovation for competitivity The most important card to exit the crisis will be played in investment in R&D. We focus attention on structures within Italy, particularly in the area of Emilia, that offer companies suitable tools to effectively innovate and also to access funds. Focus on CRIT, IR4I, Aster. by Riccardo Ceredi

“Incremental” or “radical” as it may be, innovation has to all intents and purposes become a competitive growth factor. If in fact the former aims at improving products or processes already underway, the latter aims at creating products and processes that represent a technological breakthrough true and proper.

Incremental innovation is necessary to respond readily and effectively to contingent difficulties and needs, the latter is equally fundamental in view of longterm company growth and development. Whether one is dealing with one or the other, some industrial groups prefer a “home game”, mainly exploiting their own R&D section (or Technical Office), for the most cooperating only sporadically with university research laboratories. Other concerns in turn commit themselves on several fronts, as well as internal skills & knowhow being able to count on a “network” of contacts with structures linked with the world of innovation.

Local structures
Organizations like Modena’s CRIT, a private concern specialised in IT and in the practice of collaborative innovation counts Ima, Carpigiani, G.D. and automotive companies such as Ferrari among its associates. The task of CRIT is to perform scouting on the technologies of the greatest interest for associated companies, placing them in contact with the most suited world research centres according to the type of innovation sought after.

Among the other organisms present in Emilia-Romagna, the last to come in terms of time is IR41. Set up at the behest of Gaetano Bergami, president of Bmc, Medicina (BO), it came into being as a cluster of aerospace companies but also includes concerns from the world of packaging and automation. Among the actions provided: the creation of multidisciplinary work tables between technicians and engineers of different companies and sectors, that lead to the exchange of skills and the creation of common project.

In the crowded scene of subjects that offer themselves as a bridge between research and enterprise one has Aster, operative arm of the Regional Councillorship for Production Activities, set up with the purpose of promoting the growth and development of regional production system towards industrial and strategic research, the action of which concentrates on the network of laboratories and research centers that, in the various provinces, come under the university or the CNR, the socalled “technological centers”. Practically speaking, Aster places a lot on local skills, trying to favour the interaction between public research groups and private companies.

The key role of Europe: access to funding
Find a successful mode of cooperation with the world of research is not though only a problem for the companies; a huge hurdle is the access to funding. In this respect the seventh EC Framework Program constitutes a great opportunity, that in the five year period 2007 – 2013 earmarked as much as 53 billion euros for innovatory projects in the industrial field. Unfortunately, according to figures made public by MIUR, among the Italian companies that take part at the various European calls for tenders, only 12.3% manage to win (against an average European success that stands at 16%), given that they are competing against groupings of foreign companies representing strong and cohesive industrial districts, like the automotive district of Stuttgart.

For this very reason Eramiat was set up, a platform of Emilia-Romagna mechanical engineering companies (set up at the behest of IMA manager Daniele Vacchi, the same comprises Sacmi, G.D. and CCPL, as well as the selfsame IMA), that offers to carry out lobbying in Brussels to promote the issues of the local industrial district.
In actual fact: their main function is to assemble alliance systems between Italian companies and international research centres in order to win the funds of the European competitions.
The seventh Framework Program is running out (the last competitions will be presented this Spring), but the creation of the eighth one has already been scheduled starting from 2014. This could hence be an excellent moment for the companies to plan their own medium-to-longterm strategies.                                           
 

     

CRIT: when and why it came into being We talked to Roberto Pelosi, managing director of CRIT, in order find out and spread news about the organization he heads. When did CRIT come into being? What is the idea that stands at the basis of its founding? «CRIT is an Srl or private limited company owned by a group of international concerns that have important R&D divisions in Emilia-Romagna. They are big companies that invest in R&D, and that have decided to create an external subject to share tools of analysis of technical-scientific information and to activate research and technology transfer synergies. CRIT came into being in the year 2000, with the underwriting of company capital by 14 industrial concerns. The undertaking was promoted by Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who in that period was president of the Modena Industrial Union (now the Modena Confindustria). Over the years CRIT’s holding structure has grown to reach 26 concern». What is CRIT’s product offer? What kind of services do you offer? «Through its structure, comprising 12 persons and several external co-workers, CRIT offers services of technological brokerage, cooperative innovation and development of the same. As a technological broker we seek out the best technological experts the world around, choosing the research centers, the universities and the companies that help our client companies. Secondly, we organize encounters, seminars, work tables, or that is events in which associate and non associate companies can exchange information and find common technological solutions. The third service of CRIT is that of development of innovation: the interventions within the company to introduce best practices leading towards innovation». What is the advantage of CRIT compared to other public and private bodies that offer themselves as partner/intermediary for companies in the R&D field? «CRIT has modelled its services and products on the basis of the specific demands of its shareholders, that are world-class companies. Hence the quality and the approach is international both in dimension and value. The total independence hence from universities or public bodies ensures a neutral evaluation of knowledge and technology holders, providing our clients with solid information and reliable contacts worldwide».