Luisa Todini, Comitato Leonardo – Italian Quality Committee: the innovation of Italian companies represents a great potential for investors

London, 10 July 2018 – “Our production system continues to be attractive for foreign capital and a great potential for our businesses is represented today by the challenge of innovation” declared Luisa Todini, Chairman of the Leonardo Committee, who spoke today on the topic of the attractiveness of Italy for foreign investors in London, within the event promoted by AIFI and EY “The Private Capital Industry in Italy”.

“Digital transformation, which is increasingly confirmed as a key element for growth and competitiveness, is not a revolution but an evolution that horizontally involves all sectors: Italian companies are redesigning Made in Italy through innovation, creating a new model guided by personalization, product experience and crossing borders through e-commerce, especially in the leading sectors such as fashion, food, furniture and mechanics. The Italian industry is also investing in new high-tech emerging sectors such as biotechnology, robotics and mechatronics and green technologies. The Italian startup ecosystem is growing fast, with about 7,400 innovative start-ups and over 10,200 employees, and will make an important contribution to the future of our industrial system.”

“Given the characteristics of the Italian industrial system, made up mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises, finding new partners is essential to boost productivity, competitiveness and innovation,” continued Luisa Todini. “While, on one hand, creativity, flexibility and design remain great strengths of Italian SMEs, their size and the low level of capitalization represent the main limitations. To accelerate the innovation process already in place “, she concluded, “Infrastructure needs to be developed to ensure connectivity, starting with broadband. Furthermore, foster greater integration between the research world and the productive fabric and support Italian companies in their industrial research projects aimed at creating state-of-the-art processes, products and services. The innovation must transform the public sector too, a 4.0 “Public Administration is needed”.

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The Leonardo Committee was established in 1993 on the common initiative of Confindustria, the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) and a group of entrepreneurs, with the aim of promoting and establishing Italian Quality around the world. Not by chance, the name Leonardo refers to the magic alchemy between art, science and technology: three forms of expression of the intellectual capacity that reflects our Country’s success at international level.

Today, the Committee brings together over 160 well-known figures, including entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and men and women from the world of culture, who wish to share the goal of enhancing Italy and its originality by holding high-profile, cultural and economic events. In carrying out its activities, the Leonardo Committee collaborates with all the institutional bodies that are responsible for promoting Italian companies overseas as well as their internationalisation. These include the top offices of state, such as the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Economic Development, and the Minister of Cultural Activities and Heritage. The companies associated with the Leonardo Committee generate total revenues of almost € 320 billion of which 53 percent derives from overseas sales.

Press Office Comitato Leonardo – Italian Quality Committee

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