Spurred on by the experiences of the founders of the largest Korean companies such as Samsung, LG and GS, the students immersed themselves with dedication and curiosity in the study and discussion activities at theICSB Academy, delving into the concept of K-Entrepreneurship and discovering the different ways of understanding entrepreneurship depending on the country in which you operate.

After visiting Sungshin University in Seoul and the K-Entrepreneurship Center in Jinju, the Innovators attended a K-startup exhibition at the KFJ Convention Center in Gwangju touching base with the region’s entrepreneurial and university ecosystem.

They then moved to the Gwangju Content Cube, where they experienced firsthand the grandeur of cutting-edge technologies such as facial capture and motion capture.

Every moment was constructive and valuable for broadening one’s horizons and challenging oneself. A great opportunity was the chance to constantly work in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams in the development of their business idea presented at the concluding Pitch Competition of that Korean experience.

7 teams and lots of students from the U.S., Germany, Italy, Indonesia and Korea came together to propose their vision and idea of innovation, and SEIUNISA returned home with great successes in its suitcase. The winner, in fact, was the group with SEIUNISA Innovators Teresa Abbagnale, Gaetano De Rosa and Mario Saporoso with “Nutrineeds – Food fit for you.”

An educational and surprising journey from which to invest in one’s land.
다음에 보자 See you next time!

Browse through our
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and relive the highlights of the SEIUNISA experience at ICSB Academy.

L'articolo SEI Unisa in South Korea for ICSB Academy proviene da SEIUNISA.

Face to face with Tommaso D’Onofrio

To date only eleven countries in the European Union have introduced regulation for crowdfunding, and this regulation in any case has not covered all types of crowdfunding. In Italy, for example, only the equity model has been regulated. What is this due to?

What requires regulation was precisely equity crowdfunding, because it presupposes an exchange of money for corporate interests. When I exchange money for corporate shares, in fact what I am doing is a solicitation of public savings, which may constitute a crime; therefore, in the absence of legislation I could not provide for such an exchange.

Crowdfunding was born thanks to the web, so it is evident how technological progress has also impacted forms of funding. In the future, what emerging technologies might impact forms of financing?

The two tracks are those of tokens and cryptocurrencies. Something is already happening because there are platforms already working with such models, however, it is clear that the track is increasingly that of dematerializing things. It is recent, in the latest decree, that shares in S.R.L.’s can be dematerialized, which greatly facilitates crowdfunding operations. The next frontier is making all operations less and less hardware and more software.

Can scouting from university literature or patent managers to retrieve good ideas be a good strategy?

Open your mind and look out the window. Patents are archived in public databases where one can find interesting things, in fact, I personally read several articles in the evening on specialized search portals to retrieve interesting information on technologies of my interest. In addition, there are several specialized consulting firms that provide databases that try to predict the market based on innovations, patents, and technologies being developed.

Curiosity is a key word in this context. Being open and proactive in looking for sources of inspiration outside of one’s field or target industry can lead to surprising discoveries and new business opportunities.

Strategic wakefulness, that is, always being on guard and seizing the opportunities of anticipatory signals coming from the market, is crucial, often it is the weak signals that generate the disruptive moment; therefore, it is important to be ready to seize the opportunities.”

Another immeasurable advantage available to us is the Web; with the enormous amount of information available online, one can delve deeper and search for sources of inspiration quickly and efficiently.

Delve deeper, be curious!

What advice do you give to a team like ours that has an innovative idea but has not yet formed a startup?

The Mentoring I can give you is: don’t shyly express your thoughts, don’t underestimate your ideas, my advice is go ahead with your team and your project, you may find that similar solutions already exist, but only by going ahead will you know.

The key word is “commitment,” you have to continue with determination and dedication while always being aware of the risks you are taking.

Being a startupper is a dream and as such it opens one’s life and mind, but one should never forget to be self-sustaining in life, one does not live by dreams alone, one must strike the right balance between expectation, which makes us alive, and self-sustainability.

Another piece of advice I can give you is that when a startup is launched, “speed” is key: if the project sits idle for a long period of time and if it does not take off in a defined time frame, it is possible that it is either extraordinarily ahead of its historical context, or it is not innovation, and in either case the market does not have a latent need satisfied by that particular product.”

How to approach the constant change?

Change is not just the transition from public to private or from one company to another. It is a question of repositioning, of our repositioning, it is an opportunity, not a critical issue but there is a need to know how to manage it.

I have the need to think, “What has this change entailed?”

It is as if I do an internal ‘SWOT analysis, even at the corporate level you grow through change since it is value and I cannot hinder it. If a change is coming I cannot oppose it, but I have to prepare to accompany it, otherwise it will be a losing race from the start, examples from the past years are the EU directive on HACCP or the EU privacy regulation (GDPR), companies knew these were regulations that were coming, but many (too many) arrived unprepared. We need to study and understand what is around us; knowledge is another core value for change.”

What role has emotional intelligence played and does it play in your experience?

If not used in the right way, it risks being hindering, limiting. If managed in the right way it is a core value, it is also a factor that comes into play in the character affinities of the team of which one is a part, affinities that I can govern through an emotional management model that is consistent with the team of which I am a part. The important thing is to be able to work at something we enjoy doing, because this leads to having a capacity, an emotionality, a value to our life, far greater than when there is no emotional involvement. Chemical imprinting in brain storage occurs through an emotion, is able to make people remember and generate emotional stories, this has fundamental value.

When did you really become aware of your own value?

Still working on it. This is a very difficult question because it is about the balance between humility and conceit, which is a thing of infinite difficulty. Presumption is the worst thing there can be, so you must never be presumptuous, because you learn from the other and you exist because of the other. When I do training I come out better than when I went in, precisely because of the confrontation I had. If I start already with certainty, I have no comparison. I did not have the answers when you asked me the questions; I generated them because of your questions. It is right that humility should be there, but on the other hand there should not be submissiveness. You have to believe in yourself if you know.

My father used to say, “Little if I evaluate myself, much if I compare myself.” It was a form of presumption really, but it serves to say that you are positioned in a world and you need to know the perimeter of your skills and abilities and, among them, the ability to relate to others. You should never be afraid of that, because if you do not have vision of your perimeter positioning you will be absorbed by others.

It is okay to be humble and not cocky, but how do you, if you have a tendency to be submissive when working in a team stand up for yourself and improve your self-esteem?

The psychologist, Eric Berne, states that given one transaction I must receive another because we are relational beings, where the transaction can be any communicative action/act, such as a greeting for example; therefore, a first fundamental element is to be able to be transactional with others since communication is a fundamental element for life.

In the transactional analysis developed by the aforementioned psychologist, there are three ego states; parent, adult and child which are operationally defined as a set of consistent types of behaviors that each person has within him/herself and which may sometimes clash with those of others.

This analysis makes it possible to understand that disagreements within a work team are often not caused by immaturity but by a transactional inability to be consistent,” that is, to use “aligned ego states during communication and thus to be able to work on these aspects so that the team can be managed.”

Noting this, one can move on to the instrumental use of the ego phases; in fact, “being aware of these dynamics allows one to harness them and communicate effectively, building a perimeter of one’s self.”

Have you ever had the experience of rejecting a startup that later became successful? How do you assess the potential of a business idea and decide whether or not to invest? What are the criteria you use to give startup founders confidence?

I happened not to select startups that later turned out to be successful. It is completely normal and one should not get upset when this happens.

To evaluate a startup there are four key elements:

1. The team: it is crucial because it is the people who have to carry the company forward every day.

1. The idea: it is a basic prerequisite and must be good, but if the right people are not there, you will go nowhere.

1. Patentability: the idea must be valid and innovative, but also patentable to prevent others from copying it. Software is difficult to patent, so you have to file the algorithm in SIAE and hope that will be enough.

1. Speed: Another important element is the speed of reaching the market and becoming a standard. Facebook, for example, is not complicated technically, but it won because it was the first to grow so much.

What are the main challenges you face as CEO? How do you handle possible conflicts with the CDA when you have a different view from theirs?

Being CEO means having specific authority from the Board of Directors to perform certain actions. This delegation is based on the trust the CDA places in the CEO and his or her expertise. The CEO can act independently within the limits of the delegation of authority, but is still accountable to the BoD for his or her decisions. Then there are some acts that require mandatory CDA approval, such as the budget. In essence, the challenges for a CEO are daily, but with humility, experience, and vision it is possible to meet them effectively and with successful results every time.

Who is Tommaso D’Onofrio

An Innovation Expert and Strategic Consultant with a Long International Career. Tommaso D’Onofrio holds a degree in Economics with executive training in private equity from the prestigious London Business School, is an innovation expert and strategic consultant with more than 25 years of experience in different areas of the business world. In addition to being a mentor and business angel to start-ups and scale-ups, D’Onofrio has extensive and cross-functional experience in strategic consulting in business planning, corporate finance and corporate compliance. In recent years, D’Onofrio has evaluated numerous innovation projects on behalf of the European Commission, holding companies, alternative finance platforms, incubators and accelerators. His experience in this field has been consolidated through the publication of books and articles both nationally and internationally.

Edited by:

Salvatore, Pier Paolo, Andrea, Ilaria, Gennaro Pio, Luciana

L'articolo Open your mind and be curious: Tommaso D’Onofrio’s advice proviene da SEIUNISA.

At SEIUNISA we had the opportunity to meet him.

Face to face with Giovanni De Caro

How did you get into the start-up world?

In fact, it was almost by accident. I was working in private equity, and as with all investment funds, there was an investment period and a management period. When the investment period ended, another fund was launched after management. This new fund was venture capital, in Naples, and I was asked to look after it. I had never done venture capital in my life; it was like taking a stake to the face. For a good year, I didn’t even know where to put my hands. Then slowly I learned and continued on that path.

Why did you choose the start-up world instead of staying in private equity?

Private equity is precision work, while venture capital is work that requires a lot of creativity. Precision is still necessary, especially when you go to negotiate contacts, but beyond that venture capital allows you to deal with the most disparate technologies, the most diverse business models, fields and even very particular types of people. In private equity, you typically face entrepreneurs and managers who already have their own history and established experience. In venture capital, on the other hand, you are dealing with much more interesting people, even from a human point of view. So venture capital is not only an investment and partner role acquisition, but there is also a “smart money” component. It is not just “money.” This must be complemented by other “smart” people or resources.

Can you explain what “smart money” means?

“Smart money” is an expression that stands for low-capital investment, to which resources must be added to help the entrepreneur. These resources can be skills, knowledge, experience. In a nutshell, you are paired with people who add value to the entrepreneur.

What does equity crowdfunding mean and how does it work?

Equity crowdfunding is a low-capital investment mode. This is a fund-raising system that allows people to obtain equity shares in exchange for an investment. This method can be very advantageous for startups seeking initial funding because it involves a high number of people investing relatively small amounts of money. This method is very different from venture capital, where the investment is made by a single investor or venture capital firm. In general, a venture capitalist tries to select the best possible venture and invest optimally, putting as little money as possible at the lowest possible valuation. On equity crowdfunding platforms, however, this reasoning is not done. While I as an investor have a specific interest in paying little because if I sell well I make a profit, the platform whether you pay little or pay dearly still retains 7 percent of the investment and this commission on fundraising defines its business model. In general, statistically, 20-30% overvaluation of assets is found in crowdfunding. In addition, because the main investor is the consumer himself, in equity crowdfunding you often have B2C business models as opposed to venture capital in which you invest primarily in B2B models.

What criteria do you use to select the startups you invest in?

When I select a startup to invest in, I try to identify the best possible opportunities and invest under the most favorable conditions. This means that I try to pay the lowest possible price to acquire the maximum possible share. The goal is to minimize risk and maximize gain.

How do you engage with investors to try to get funding?

This is a very sensitive issue. Typically a start-up to convince investors to give funds prepares a presentation to sell the idea. Often, if the pitch is weak or if the team fails to answer investor questions, even small ones, it is difficult for them to get funding. However, if the team is solid and the idea is good, the fundraising manager should help cover the gaps. It is critical to prepare the start-up in the best way to deal with the investor.

What are the key characteristics of a perfect pitch for a startup?

The perfect pitch must be thoroughly prepared and feature a solid, well-prepared team that can answer investors’ questions. In addition, the submitted project must be innovative and offer a competitive advantage over other solutions on the market.

What is the method used by funds to evaluate a start-up?

The funds have valuation models based on a method called the Venture Capital Method. This method takes into account three basic parameters: your ambition, i.e., your business plan; how the market behaves, i.e., at what prices companies like yours sell, or to be precise at what multiples of revenues they sell. These first two things, the revenues you expect to generate in 4 or 5 years, and the multiple of revenues at which companies like yours typically sell, are multiplied by each other to estimate the value of the company in 4 or 5 years. For example, if the multiple at which you sell a software company (SAS) is 5 times revenues and you think you will generate 10 million revenues in the fourth year, then the company will be sold for 50 million in 4 years. To estimate the present value of the company based on its estimated value in the future, a risk-adjusted discount rate is used. The higher the risk, the higher the discount rate and thus the lower the value of the company.

How is the discount rate determined?

There are methods that take into account a whole range of things about the life of the company, product, management, maturity, that help define, measure and quantify risk, discounting the value of the company.

When does risk appetite make an individual an entrepreneur and not a gambler?

They are two figures with completely different profiles. The gambler has something in common with the trader in that he or she is interested in making money in the financial markets. However, trading and entrepreneurship are two very different professions. The entrepreneur is born from a plan, not a bet. He has an idea to do something, and if he can put all the pieces together in the right way, he can complete his project. He is not betting.

Edited by:

Carmine Del Negro, Giuseppe De Riso, Giuseppe De Simone, Lorenzo Pietrosanto, Matteo De Simone, Simone Ferraro, Tommaso Di Maio

L'articolo John De Caro turns spotlight on the world of start-ups proviene da SEIUNISA.

SEIUNISA Innovators met with Attilio Palumbo, a graduate in Civil Engineering for the Environment and the Territory from the University of Salerno, who has been a project manager for national and international initiatives since 2013, for projects both private and supported by the Prime Minister’s Office or the European Commission.

Face to face with Attilio Palumbo

Post covid the EU has placed digitization and environmental sustainability as central themes for investment. Her vision has enabled her to see, for several years now, these two issues as priorities in the various projects she has launched. What do you think could be the turning point in the near future? In what areas do you imagine the concept of innovation can evolve?

Innovation is present on so many areas, ranging from cosmetics to motor skills, from engineering to so much more. The covid created an initial jolt, but it also curbed interest in environmental issues in favor of the issue of people’s health. Looking also at the balances in international geopolitical scenarios, we can say that we are coming from the longest period of peace ever: hopefully it will last, but a geopolitical jolt such as a clash between the great powers could create misalignments. Therefore, to prepare for these eventualities, we can create digital businesses, perhaps even international ones, so that we can be independent of what happens in a single state. Areas where innovation will be made will certainly include Machine Learning, Web3.0 and Digital Health.

Will college always remain the primary choice of education that a student will undertake after high school, or are there shorter, more specific specialized courses?

I have been thinking about this for several years, and it is to address this need that Talents4Planet was born. The European Commission itself, in 2022, came out in favor of microcredentials as a means of supplementing the framework provided by university education; this need is evident now and will be increasingly so in the future because of the very speed of digital and because of the fact that universities are more reluctant to change degree programs. Imagining an even faster future, microcredentials will be favored for direct education, while the university will remain more directed toward pure research.

How are you developing the theme of social sustainability and welfare along with the theme of environmental sustainability?

The coworking space of The Green Hub is a physical place for meeting and gathering that enables a development of the area, increasing its value through the contamination of the ideas and passions of the people who experience this space. They provide everyone with basic knowledge about environmental sustainability issues so that future entrepreneurs can comply with it. An impact in welfare can be generated precisely by leading by example, creating moments of comparison and dissemination in the territory.

Can Greenhub be a model of land redevelopment to be inspired by and applied in metropolitan areas?

Enhancing hamlets in metropolitan areas is also important, and this is also the case with The Green Hub, which also promotes this idea in terms of marketing. It is not pure hamlet redevelopment, but more wide-ranging, even indirect redevelopment, as the goal is to redevelop the way young people think and the way they do business.

How much attention is growing for the topic of e-health at The Green Hub?

There are no courses on this topic at The Green Hub partly due to the fact that the Hub has not yet been approached by companies in health care and pharmaceuticals. However, as there is significant investment in the sector, it is not excluded that in the future there will be companies in the area that are interested in profiles with these skills.

Attilio Palumbo’s advice to Innovators.

More advice was given to future entrepreneurs during the talk:

• Have a vision board, a framework of what we want to become or what we want to achieve some defined time frame. Such activity is critical for a startup, but it is also critical for self-empowerment: you need to put goals on paper and pursue them, even if they change and are revised during the process;
• Don’t just stay in books, but above all, do, get involved and get out of your comfort zone: even if the economic remuneration is not satisfactory and if morale is low, especially in the early stages it is important to experiment to figure out what you really want to do in life and to figure out what your preferences are;
• Acquiring some soft skills (Illustator, WordPress, managing social profiles, managing the work of a team or other) is essential for those who want to do business or even to improve the brand reputation of oneself;
• When presenting the product of your work, it is good to be enthusiastic: passionate people are wanted in business, and the way you present your ideas can radically change the outcome;
• Always thank anyone who has provided support at any stage of the process;
• Anyone can follow the euro design way and can participate in these calls; it is not necessary to have all the skills required for full project development because, often, you will find yourself delegating a lot of work to experts in the field, so you are never alone. You can also start by taking simple courses on YouTube, which are free, and then eventually go deeper.

Who is Attilio Palumbo

The post-graduate years are of continuous experimentation and characterized by the word “doing,” essential for his personal and professional growth: in 2011 he launched his first venture, Virtuos Italy, a site whose goal was to collect good environmental practices in use in various Italian municipalities. He did not profit from this experience, but he gained a number of soft skills (such as Illustrator, WordPress, organizing work in a team, and managing social profiles), which would later serve him well throughout his career.

Since 2015, he has focused on design and self-entrepreneurship: thanks to the skills he acquired in the course “Project Cycle Management, how to write and manage a project,” he has seen his ideas funded and implemented seven times, as Green Generation. This experience will prove pivotal to the realization of The Green Hub.

In 2018 he founded The Green Hub in Cava de’ Tirreni, a reference point for startups and innovators investing in digital and environmental sustainability issues. It is not only a coworking space, but at the same time an incubator for startups and a place for (free) higher education on specific skills required by companies. Through the “Talents4Planet” brand, in fact, The Green Hub acts as an intermediary between prospective workers and companies in the area, and also carries out this matching through hackathons. The adjective “Green” encapsulates a broad concept, i.e., it not only contemplates environmental sustainability and zero impact in the strict sense, but also emphasizes the need and goal of training a generation of talent who are sensitive to Climate Change and have the skills of “just transition.”

Since 2019, he has been Director of Support and InfoCenter at corporate VYVO Inc. a group that is developed along different branches: “HELO,” a branch whose goal is to develop smart devices that can collect and process data about the person through cutting-edge sensors and algorithms, such as smartwatches or smart scales Blockchain and NFT, whose goal is to aggregate and anonymize the data produced by from HELO’s smart devices so that the customer can always maintain ownership of their Web3 Digital health data.

L'articolo A focus on innovation and the environment with Attilio Palumbo proviene da SEIUNISA.

Face to face with Luca Tesauro

If you could steal one characteristic from the new generation, what would you steal?

The freedom to be able to travel. The world today offers you infinity, and young people are fortunate in being able to take advantage of this opportunity. I would certainly steal that freedom of being able to explore oneself around the globe with more ease and fewer obstacles.

What, on the other hand, do you think our generation lacks compared to yours?

The not being connected, being just disconnected from everything. You miss that one! The fact of doing nothing, seeing nothing, or maybe seeing only one thing at a time. The fact that we do not have time to reflect on who we are. There is too much distraction, too much information, an overload of everything. I think you guys spend hours on your cell phones, don’t you! I have to do that for work, too, and it’s something that weighs heavily on me after a while, so I look for my moments, like in the morning at 6:00. This is somewhat lacking in my opinion. In fact, I think it’s a good business to be in “disconnecting”: Nokia, disconnecting people! I was reading it in Salerno, someone made a mural there. One thing that helps me a lot is to have two minutes of silence, close my eyes for a while, and it clears everything up. The other theme is the lack of focus and concentration, the extreme switching from one thing to another. Today’s day as well: it started for me at 6:00 a.m.

But then what time do you go to sleep if you wake up at 6:00?

Last night, after Napoli at midnight I was angry, if not usually at 11:00 or 10:00 and I wake up at 5:00, 6:00, sometimes even 4:00. It depends on the days, the thoughts, because sometimes the brain turns on at 5:00, and that’s the best time, where you’re you, quiet, in the dark, before the light comes on, that you’re in that phase where you’re going to live one more day. There, the energy you can create, alone, without doing anything, is enormous.

Of your speech, I was struck a lot by the fact that you put a lot of emphasis on people over ideas. I sensed the trust you choose to give to those who have a project and decide to turn to you. I wondered then: how much does a person’s resourcefulness weigh against a visionary and potentially viable business idea? Between the two, which one do you think matters more?

Instinct, which is a key element for me, tells me that we have to go back a lot to the people, who are the ones who then make the ideas. Ideas arise regardless, but trust is in my opinion the key issue. A theme I also proposed at the festival several years ago. Work a lot on confidence, in oneself and in others. This is something that, in my opinion, can save much of the technologies as well.

In your opinion, what are the difficulties and opportunities of combining Cultural Heritage, and Culture more generally, with digital innovation?

There are several possibilities. You met Hamlet (Picerno Ceraso), who must have told you about how he used 3D printers to reproduce museum artifacts. This is a classic example of how to use technology in the field of Cultural Heritage. We filmed a movie in Pompeii, having school children in Pompeii film a play based on Aristophanes’ play, “The Birds.” The play is available now on Prime and Discovery+; a docufilm has been made of it, and now we are shooting the second one.This is technology, in the sense that you have a theatrical form, within an archaeological context, and we have made a docufilm. Now we have made a new format in which the kids tell about the excavations, and another docufilm will come out of it. What is the technology? In this case it is Amazon’s platform; it is a different way of telling that thing.

Does the concept of knowing how to communicate always apply?

Yes. But there are also some crazy technologies. For example, 3D reconstruction of everything can be done in excavations.Education is very important, that is, how you educate about the past through technology. Many experiments have been made with virtual reality. What new technologies will help in Archaeology I do not know, because I do not know the field very well. I have friends who are archaeologists working, one though is in London, the other I can’t remember where… it’s still a lot of research work, study, contact with the earth. Technology can give you a hand in better understanding–but you always better understand the History, what you found. Perhaps artificial intelligence could be useful in this field to connect multiple digs at once and have shared information, perhaps make faster translations of manuscripts. I was reading that recently they made another major discovery in Pompeii, I think I read it yesterday — whatever, I mean, wherever they dig there they find something. Perhaps technology can help us understand everything underground in Pompeii (ironic). It is useful for technology to know beforehand where and what to dig, that is. Optimizing time. What is the question? That History should be preserved; indeed, it should be enhanced. As you say (Valentina Caroccia), it is an important tool…however, jobs go in another direction. If I were to tell you the demands for positions in the job market, and you see the profiles in demand, archaeologists are not at the top. Perhaps in that case technology skills or technology itself can be components that help find jobs. I couldn’t tell you, because I don’t know the market segment…however, it’s complicated. That it is necessary, that is. You choose this path out of passion, I guess? And so keep doing that, for the time being don’t think about the rest. However, there is no doubt that the humanities part also serves technology; integration between the two is necessary in my opinion.

On the subject of communication, we were struck, in perusing the Giffoni Innovation Hub website, by the emphasis on less institutional language to better connect with young people. Is there a risk of debasing the issues addressed, cultural or otherwise, with language that is too simple and uninstitutional?

We usually bring kids together with companies and institutions to always achieve positive contamination. The languages have changed a lot in the last 5 years. In my opinion, at this historical stage, communication languages and channels are changing too fast, and companies are often disoriented and fatigued to keep up. It is no longer about the type of language (institutional or informal), but how the perspective of things is evolving. Creatives are the right graft to connect young people, companies and institutions in a balanced way with value.

Giffoni Innovation Hub deals with various issues. How does the Innovation Hub diversify its interests and activities? What are the social, economic–even geopolitical–factors in the complex historical phase we are experiencing?

This is a good, complicated question. From the planning side, our interests are in creating jobs in the South. We started from this problem: if you go and check the national employment index, Italy is very bad in terms of youth unemployment, in the South and in Campania even worse.We started from this data and how to improve it, creating training paths so that the skills that we provide to young people, can be used in the world of work. Right now we are doing a master’s degree on the engine area, a software used to make 3D models, etc., as well as doing other training paths. What does this have to do with jobs? Very little; we are talking about such a complicated issue that we are only suffering the consequences of, because companies are investing less, because of the various crises that are currently there and overlapping. From a business point of view, we are facing, therefore, a risk. On current issues — like political issues, we don’t deal with them. Social issues, on the other hand, we do, depending on the projects. We are currently doing a project on leukemia, youth depression, with a film that is doing very well. We also choose themes based on what our expertise is. We could also interact on a geopolitical level, we don’t do that, but we could, example: One of the topics we are dealing with is how to bring energy sustainability to countries like Qatar, through our partner companies and multinationals like Eni, Enel and others from France and Norway, by creating events there where young people talk about sustainability with companies that are dealing with it internationally, in a country that is changing geopolitically like Qatar in relation to gas prices etc. etc.; this for now they are not doing it yet, but we plan to do it. For now we cannot do that because we need a team of people of a certain level. We are doing very well in some countries, with foreign companies; we also have good relations with the Italian government, which recognizes us as an important entity. We are also strengthening our role in Europe with the European Commission…these are useful elements that help to make us known internationally. So what could we do in the future? In this you have to help us. We expect young people like you to get involved with their own projects and ideas. In summary, we are responding to the main problem, which is to help solve the problem of youth unemployment in Campania, but we also have to turnover, because otherwise the company doesn’t move forward, and then we have to understand contemporary issues and deal with issues like this. It is not easy.

We Italians are wont to say that we have so much cultural, archaeological, and artistic heritage in Italy, but that we do not know how to properly exploit it, as is the case abroad. Advice for those who would like to invest in the ‘cultural sphere?

I was born in Naples, lived in the historic center, in the midst of churches and in the midst of a huge historical heritage. Now Naples is becoming: the Scudetto, Maradona, stuff to eat. It sucks. I was just talking about this with a RAI journalist, Ettore di Lorenzo, with whom we are doing a production on some historical figures who passed through Naples, such as Filangieri, Vico and others. The problem is how you tell things in my opinion. For example, if you go to Instagram you can see a guy telling about Neapolitan sayings and words. He is so good that he even had praise from the city of Naples, because he tells a part of Neapolitan culture as it had never been told. How you tell things is a key thing: language, communication is key. The assets we have, it’s not that we don’t have them, but the problem is how they are discovered. I love Paris very much, I follow a lot of certain things about Paris and people who tell Paris differently. In Paris, I don’t know who’s been there, but it’s a city where you can go 1,000 times and discover 1,000 billion different things. But it’s like that for any place: explore Campania, Puglia, Basilicata-any region in Italy has 3,000 things to see. In my opinion, storytelling is what we should do a little better, and we could do it a little better than others. Instead, we experience too much massified tourism. There comes that tourism that quickly goes around the stores, goes there and eats fried pizza and so on, I’m talking at least about our region. This is a good theme. I would work a lot on communication, in my opinion that is the best language, and then also for family activities, because there are not many in my opinion.

In the end this is what the Neapolitan has to offer, precisely because it is what people want, in quotes. People who watch Naples want that: the Scudetto, the food, Maradona, they no longer think about the great actors like Eduardo Di Filippo, Massimo Troisi…

I met Maradona. I was lucky enough to experience the Naples of the first Scudetto. My father is gone however I think: now Napoli wins the Scudetto and the first thought goes to my father. I, however, will not go to Naples to celebrate because it will be an unlivable city that day.

His question, however, was more related to the fact that we do not exploit a huge asset. In any country you go you pay for anything, whereas here in our country you don’t pay for churches, if I’m not mistaken. There is a business about everything, and we lack a little bit of American-ness, a business view of some things, but it’s also part of being Italian a little bit.

Yes, in fact the typical phrase of us Italians abroad is: I paid to visit a church, a monument, but if I go to a random Italian region I can see more beautiful ones that are, however, not valued as much as abroad.

Cilento for me is paradise, and that is exploited? No. Salerno airport? A huge opportunity to make more well-organized tourist flows. Sometimes there are many elements that characterize this: a little bit of people’s mentality, there is still a lot of provincialism, there is also fear of the foreigner. There is still an unglobal mindset in this respect. This in my opinion is also a very complicated issue. Then there are also specific interests of some bad stakeholders in managing travel in a certain way. It is a difficult country this, in other countries maybe it is easier.

The only ones who seem to have managed to escape seem to be those on the Amalfi coast.

On the coast, however, the road is closed, that is. You have the space-time limit. I have a friend who has a hotel in Praiano, small, now working in tourism. He is managing a whole series of projects that to try to improve services. That is heaven. Those who come to the coast, and they come tourists even to have 3-day weddings of $100,000 a day, have a very different target audience.

In the course of your speech you repeatedly talked about creativity, integration, internationalization and so on. At the same time, however, you have presented a number of projects and ideas that have started from you and go to involve this new technology that is artificial intelligence as well as , for example, the latest project developed on youth depression can find a solution in artificial intelligence, thinking about it. Don’t you think these two things can come into conflict? For example, artificial intelligence and creativity, artificial intelligence and integration. If so, how do you think you can strike a perfect balance between the two?

This is a very complicated question because it is an issue that several, millions of people are pondering. Governments, religious institutions and companies are also thinking about it. So this is a very complicated question. The theme is really trying to figure out how to navigate this fairly crazy flow. Every day I see new software being born on this, so the issue is that, in my opinion, there is a part of people who are using technology to integrate better solutions, as I was citing what Bambin Gesù is doing that has put together various hospitals to collect more data, and there are instead those who are exploiting this to make an app, perhaps, to take work away from creative people, from designers, although that is another very complicated issue.

So I don’t have the answer because the question is too complicated at this historical stage where there is still a lot of disorder about it.

I reformulate. Betting on artificial intelligence, in some ways, runs the risk of trapping what is the mechanism behind Giffoni. That is, in the sense, we use this new technology, we do something new however this thing can harm something old that is still growing though. That is, isn’t he afraid to “make his own shoes”?

Our job as innovators is to use consciously and the real secret is just that, which is to try to work with the old, with a humanistic, naturalistic logic of certain principles that I think will always remain sound with respect to an evolution that you can’t stop. It’s not that you can stop artificial intelligence, how do you stop it. So between Terminator’s Skynet and the global revolution of the human being fighting with the club against the machine, Giffoni’s role is very complicated because partly we educate kids to use technology in a conscious way, and on the other hand technology progresses no matter what you decide. This will be a hyper-complicated topic but for everyone. So the question is very complex, the answer even more so. However, it is an interesting topic this.

Perhaps innovation will lie in finding the answer to that very question?

Yes, we have to be good, even for those who study this, to understand how to orient others. However, I see too much stuff that is coming out nonstop but everywhere. I inquire from time to time because I read a lot of projects. Just this morning I saw 20 other startups born on this stuff here alone. They do more or less the same thing though in 20 companies that are also doing…I don’t know.

God bless us.

On the subject of Giffoni Film Festival, Luca Tesauro is as precious as a Wes Anderson character and as magnetic as one of Sorrentino’s. There is a sense of creativity in the room when he is there. Spontaneous, multifaceted, and bold. Conversation with him hymns freedom: no boundaries, no limits, only experimentation and a desire to conquer the world.

Edited by:

Andrea Parisi, Mafalda Ingenito, Marco Crocamo, Serena Li Pizzi, Simone Bove, Valentina Caroccia

L'articolo Luca Tesauro, the value of people and trust proviene da SEIUNISA.

Prepared, dynamic, open-minded: Dr. Tortora provided her extensive knowledge to enable SEIUNISA’s Innovators to enter the startup world. A strong advocate of the team’s heterogeneity, she did not fail to emphasize the importance of meeting places that, beyond notions and concepts, help in meeting people and exchanging new ideas and points of view.

Face to face with Federica Tortora

What do you mean by cultural innovation?

It means to create moments of sharing with companies to try to talk about the importance of innovation in companies, among other projects I remember the “ESG Lab,” which is a meeting point, physical and virtual, to accompany Italian companies in the sustainable transition; therefore, the lab aims to promote discussion and stimulate awareness on ESG issues among companies and supply chains.

In addition, I invite you to participate in some appointments where we will talk about innovation in the bioplastic world together with the Circular Economy Lab, which is an innovation initiative born from the partnership between Cariplo Factory and Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, to contribute to the evolution of the Italian economic system and spread new models of value creation in the collective interest, accelerating the transition to circular economy models.

Another important event will be held in June, also concerning the innovation trend in the world of sustainable textiles, and among the testimonies will be an innovative startup founded by a woman who has created a new textile material called Ohoskin coated with Sicilian orange and cactus.

Specifically, it is a 70% non-fossil material, so it is made from organic and recycled materials, which do not contribute to the carbon footprint.

What are the parameters for evaluating whether or not to fund a startup?

The parameters used for a company do not apply to a startup. In the latter case, certain intangible assets that venture capitalists examine when conducting a startup valuation apply. We took those parameters, reshuffled them within a proprietary model based on an algorithm that weights the various assessment areas differently. There are six areas of assessment for startups and they are expressed through a technology due diligence assessment to scorecard, a model for assessing technology potential. These are the six areas to consider:

• team;
• market analysis;
• competitive analysis;
• value proposition analysis;
• investor relations;
• financial needs analysis.

Apart from the last one which is more about economic-financial aspects, the first five refer to intangible assets: capacity and complementarity of the team, execution capacity demonstrated in the past by the team, presence of advisors, ability to analyze the target market (TAM, SAM, SOM), analysis of direct and indirect competition…

Many startups fall back on these questions, “Who are you selling to?”, “How much are you selling it for?”, “How are you selling it?”; if I financed startups today that could not answer these questions for me, I would be partly responsible for their failure. On a deontological level I absolutely have to fund a person who KNOWS what they are doing, in fact I fail 8 out of 10 business plans, not out of malice but out of ETHICS. Beyond the fact that I would not return the funding, it is still unethical to fund startups that are not clear on how to enter the market or how to stay there. Of course, the events that can affect a startup (or a company) are among the most varied, and it is not certain that the initiative cannot still fail. If I fail a startup, I give feedback so that those gaps can be filled.

Of course, prospective budgets are also relevant. One must be able to argue the values that are entered (e.g., revenue stream, personnel costs, customer acquisition costs…).

What failure rate does this approach have? Did the discarded startups actually turn out to be successful?

I have a very high rejection rate. Out of 10, I carry on 2. The failure rate of the start-ups I have funded so far is 8 percent, which is very low in my industry. Of course, I could also be wrong about a startup that I discarded, because maybe I didn’t quite understand the potential or they failed to communicate it to me. Evaluations since they are made by a human being, even though they are based on an algorithm, are not infallible. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I may have evaluated a start-up well that then actually fails; perhaps the project is also good, but it may fail due to internal dynamics (e.g., lack of cohesion among the partners).

What is the percentage of female startups?

Unfortunately, there are few female start-ups today. I call to your attention an important project of which Intesa San Paolo is a part called “Inspiring Girls” that is bringing to middle school desks professional women, scientists, sportswomen and managers who can spur girls and boys to set no limits for themselves in defining their own path and following their ambitions, whatever they may be.

What are the various steps that need to be followed to go from an idea to a business?

First of all, one must ask whether the idea makes sense, whether it can be monetized, and whether it can create revenues that will obviously keep a company going. I always say that startups are companies, not something unrealistic; you have to pursue the idea that the startup can and should become an economically sustainable company that is profitable.

So, to everyone who decides to go on a start-up path, I say you will go in the direction of having a real business, which means paying employees, paying taxes, paying F24. When deciding to be an entrepreneur or startupper, one must be aware of the risks, that is, take into consideration the legal part as well as the product.

The first suggestion I might make is to go to an incubator, which does not charge incubation fees. Incubation lasts between 2 and 6 months. At this stage you do a real shadowing, from the basic part onward. In other words, the following aspects are explored:

• What it means to legally establish a startup, whether it is possible to establish it without a notary public.
• Under what conditions is it possible to form a startup.
• What are the tax advantages of forming an innovative startup.
• What it means legally to establish an innovative startup.

One consideration worth highlighting is that the innovative startup cannot fail.

But does the incubator have a cost?

An incubation track is free, but some services are paid for. For example, if I wanted to take advantage of a coworking space, there might be costs. Then, usually, when the startup grows there is support in terms of other services such as accompaniment to the Bank or Venture CAPITAL Fund, etc. etc.

I suggest MISE-certified incubators, that is, the incubator that has gone through a certain certification process validated by the ministry. There are seven MISE-certified incubators in Campania, at least one in each province.

What is the difference between incubator and accelerator?

Generally, incubators aim to support an entrepreneurial project in the very first months of its life. Accelerator on the other hand is intended for the later stages: it takes somewhat more mature ideas, although still in the pre-bill stage, and accelerates them. Traditionally, a project is born in an incubator and later accelerated by an accelerator. Both incubators and accelerators are free as they are funded by public funds or private entities. However, participating in an accelerator requires a time commitment.

Today most accelerators have fairly compact programs, lasting between four and six months. Schedules are flexible and allow for hybrid attendance, i.e., digital or in-person.

Another difference between incubation and acceleration also lies in the fact that in accelerators, funding can be obtained in exchange for equity.

How do you access an accelerator?

To gain access to an accelerator, one must go through a selection process-not all startups that apply for an accelerator can gain access. For example, 126 startups applied for access to the “Terra Next” accelerator in 2022, but only 8 were selected. Since CDP had allocated €750,000 for up to 10 startups, each received €93,000 in funding. Of course, if you do not pass the selection you can reapply in subsequent years.

After the incubation and acceleration period, what is the next step that must be taken to build a company from an idea?

After acceleration there are multiple avenues one can follow the first may be the bank or one can access venture capital or alternatively funding.

Edited by:

Tersa Abbagnale – Maria José Agostini – Francesco Colangelo – Antonio Langella – Francesca Preite – Davide Risi

L'articolo Experience and determination, the key words of Federica Tortora proviene da SEIUNISA.

Hamlet Picerno Ceraso provided the right guidance to accompany future innovators from the experiences and successes he has been a part of throughout his career.

An architect, he is a lecturer in Computational Design at the Faculty of Architecture, Federico II University of Naples. It has co-founded Medaarch, a design, consulting, training and research company specializing in digital fabrication technologies. Working with technological innovation to create a positive impact on manufacturing, education, jobs and the future of cities. In 2018, with Medaarch, he launched and coordinated the first Italian-born Center for Digital Craftsmanship.

With associated firm wins architectural competitions. His works are awarded as innovative projects internationally, some were presented at the SMART CITY WORLD CONGRESS EXPO 2012 in Barcelona.

Author of Paper presented at FAB10 Barcelona 2014 Resilient productive city. He has been a lecturer for the course on Data Management and Manipulation for Architectural Design and Digital Fabrication for the Emerging Technologies Master’s Program of the National Institute of Architecture.

Ceo of the webzine
www.aramplus.com
which has been offering articles and making videos investigating the making of contemporary architecture since 2004. Patent holder for “Communicative architectural facades”

In the course of our meeting, Professor Ceraso showed. What are the thinking points that should accompany anyone who wants to delve into the world of entrepreneurship, first and foremost by having an action-ready spirit, capable of transforming every notion learned over the course of one’s existence into useful tools for tackling this field and succeeding in the best possible way.

Face to face with Hamlet Picerno Ceraso

In Italy it is seen as heresy to want to open a P. IVA, preferring a corporate job to the safe “fixed job.” How do you consider this statement?

The data affirm that, as cliché as this is, we are coming out of a period of mass resignation. In Italy, why do those with the famous “fixed job” resign? Two million people quitting is not a figure to be ignored; it is necessary to reflect on the causes that triggered these resignations.

In a nutshell, from my point of view: the previous model has jammed […] people are wondering what they are doing with their lives. Awareness of one’s own existence and time is taking more and more edge. Freelancing gives you better results, better management of your time, and a more than positive economic aspect.

What and how much have your informal studies and cultural outlook influenced your work, for example, the Center for Digital Crafts?

Everything! I met people, saw movies, read books and listened to music. I have met people who at some point in my life have helped me chart a path to investigate-I have not come to any conclusion, I know there is a path to beat.

We have to dismantle everything we have thought of as culture […]. The conception of the university that it should be all content and not emotional: nothing moves if there is no emotional motive; nothing is left for you of plumbing construction if there is no emotional motive.

Very often the academic imprint is very much focused on getting to a particular goal, following a set path, without imagining an alternative way to get there.

The truth they teach in universities is inescapable, it is important and fundamental, we will mount nothingness without them.

My biggest regret is that I don’t have enough time and energy to study, but I spend entire days doing nothing or scrolling with my cell phone. The narrative around us is wrong […] There is nothing wrong with being unproductive, it matters what you will do the moment you get up. The system we are dropped into harnesses us because it has to sell. And this stuff they have to sell has great repercussions for ourselves. The narrative depends on ourselves and the interpretation we give to experiences.

Tip: Turn your thinking into action, that is, think less and act more; zero thought and one hundred action. Experiences such as reading a book or listening to music can offer important teaching for our lives. With direct experience, in the field, we would understand things that we would not have understood by studying them in books.

In the case of crafts, how did you create this transition between “old” and “new” modes?

It is a somewhat peculiar approach, that is, you cannot innovate on something new, it would be strange to innovate something new. To innovate is to ask the essential questions, that is, to rethink that thing from a new perspective. We need to get away from those preconceptions that limit our thinking and can undermine innovation.

It has been noted how information technology, artificial intelligence, is taking over all other types of work. From here on, in your work, with the implementation of these new technologies, can we get to a point where human tasks and creativity are exceeded?

Machine performance will improve more and more, but our knowledge and quality on the job will also increase. The question will be: how can we transfer to technologies something that technologies do not have? So a kind of sensitivity or thinking? This is one thing we still can’t do.

Something that still allows us not to let technologies take over our work.

Our mind, our subconscious, is structured as a complex system. In turn, a complex system can also analyze something that is not necessarily human. The question I leave you with is: what is the line between natural and artificial?

Edited by:

Matteo Cicalese – Sebastiano De Stefano – Vincenzo Iannuzzi – Francesco Palumbo – Marta Rosa Pierri – Lorenzo Raso

L'articolo Zero thought and one hundred action: a chat with Hamlet Picerno Ceraso proviene da SEIUNISA.

Long-time entrepreneur, business coach and experienced HR manager. We are talking about Francesco Serravalle, who last March 31 met with the 50 student “innovators” – selected by the University of Salerno – telling them about his entrepreneurial and personal experience, providing food for thought and advice on how to launch one’s career and what opportunities it is important to seize today from those entering the world of business, innovation and work. Great attention was paid to the themes of entrepreneurship, starting new businesses and the importance of generational turnover, a theme – the latter – strongly felt by the guest speaker who explained well during the plenary meeting how, in his opinion, it is from the collaboration between different professional and generational profiles that it is possible to create new added value for businesses and the territory.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Serravalle lingered with some students who were able to elaborate in an informal conversation on some of the “hot” topics addressed by the evangelist, who then also gave a brief interview.

Face to face with Francesco Serravalle

What do you expect from the SEIUNISA project? What can this initiative leave for the children and what can it leave for you?

Personally, I have always tried to give back to my area and to the younger generation what I would have liked to receive, and so I am glad to have had the opportunity to participate. I hope that a lively and sincere interest will be triggered in the young people who participate, and that from this path they will be able to grasp and have meaningful experiences within the innovation ecosystem that is emerging from this initiative.

He showed a strong attachment to the area. With respect to the current initiative-among the few in Italy of its kind and certainly the only one in the south-do you think the local context in which we live is able to offer the right opportunities for entrepreneurship, innovation, and the absorption of the specific high skills that are being trained?

On this I feel I can answer in the affirmative. Certainly a major impact was given by the advent of the digital economy without which I probably would not have stayed on the ground. Beyond the classic statement “it’s a beautiful place,” it is worth noting that if we have grown up with certain cultural and aesthetic references, this represents a definite competitive advantage for us: if I want to invest in a start-up operating in tourism here I am among the top 10 places in the world where it is possible to do so. Then of course the problems are there starting perhaps with the bureaucracy, the banking system but it is undeniable that we live better here than elsewhere and I would be foolish to go outside.

And in this context, can we see globalization as an opportunity or a threat? How can we approach the future of our area in this context?

Globalization has given a second chance to those territories that were lagging behind in economic development, and to seize it, it is crucial for decision makers to be able to network and create a system. Hence my commitment to Confindustria. There is also to say that becoming a father [in 2015, Ed] has contributed in making me approach the subject differently: I see the future and the territory in a different way than before, investments in an area are made if you plan to stay and for the future and well-being of those who will come later.

So what do you think are the most pressing issues that need to be addressed at the systemic level?

A first issue is definitely that of generational change. Provocatively, I might say “better a stupid young man than a smart old man.” I make it a matter of time horizon: an elderly person-no matter how capable and intelligent-has a tendency to reason and make his choices in the short term. Instead, the challenges facing the contemporary world require planning and long time horizons even with respect to the results to be achieved.

Another major issue is that of the need to regain a certain “self-respect” with respect to the land as well as a certain attention with respect to its protection. It is necessary to know how to team up and develop the ability-not at all Italian-to surround ourselves with people who “know” more than we do in order to have the opportunity to improve and learn.

Mistakenly one might think that innovation is something that pertains purely to figures in the STEM area, she seems to suggest instead that this is not the case.

Multigenerational teams, i.e., those that are more cross-generational in skills are the best. The point is really to be able to integrate skills: we need to be constantly updated to understand what the new trends are, and this is done through social media, comparison among colleagues in different fields or who have had different experiences and environments than we have.

Speaking of skills, what do today’s businesses base their hierarchies on?

There is no longer the idea that the entrepreneur must be the best at the production process, the management process, and the administrative process. Those who still think this way have little time to live. Today’s model is based, as we said, on skills, so putting the right people in the right place. The entrepreneur must be good at building a control system, but he or she does not have to be the best at doing everything.

Let’s shift the focus for a moment, however, to two hot-button issues today: sustainability and digitization. How do companies deal with these major changes sweeping through today’s world?

Regarding digitization, it is a fact. Either you adapt or you fall far behind. It is an easier path, from a certain point of view, because it depends on the organization and less on external factors. With regard to sustainability, however, the issue changes somewhat. There are variants outside one’s own society, variants over which one does not have much control. This is an issue that has emerged very strongly in recent years, but on which states and administrations still need to come to terms. Here, an entrepreneur thinking about sustainability will be faced with complicated regulations and mechanisms to put in place. The path is right, however, there is a need for more clarity and simplicity in legislation.

Here, and with respect to these issues, as well as innovation, what is the role of the university?

Research is fundamental, there is little to discuss. The investments should be even greater, in my opinion, and there would be a need for process efficiency, but we are not that bad off in Italy. Of course, it is undeniable that there is a certain gap between the north and the south, because the universities in the north have a closer fabric of business connections, but the goal must be the same: not to disconnect from the territory and to collaborate with businesses and entrepreneurs, thinking about concrete projects.

We take advantage of your experience as an entrepreneur and innovator to ask you a slightly more practical question. You read a resume: what are the things that first jump out at you?

The extracurricular activities. From there I can see how much you want to do, how hard you have been working and in what things. I understand the person a little more.

In conclusion what advice do you feel like giving to us kids?

Always ask yourself at the end of the day, “Am I happy with what I am doing?” If the answer is “yes,” it means we are growing and coming into contact with inspiring people who leave us with something: happiness is a key element in learning.

L'articolo How to start your own entrepreneurial career? Francesco Serravalle answers. proviene da SEIUNISA.

First, in the public context, there is often a lack of incentive to take the risk of promoting innovation, resulting in a culture that is repulsive toward the concept. Moreover, when someone takes the risk and decides to encourage it, he or she may encounter difficulties and resistance in involving other members of the organization, because a critical mass of people willing to support the idea is often lacking.

Another critical issue that stands out is that, in the public sector, the success of innovation is often evaluated on the basis of agreed numbers, which may not reflect its actual impact. Recently, awareness of the importance of innovation in the public sector has been growing, and there are organizations that are trying to promote and support it:

Intellera, for example, was created to try to bring innovation and financial advice to the public sector by adopting a more complex and integrated logic in assessing impacts.

Face to face with Giancarlo Senatore

Innovation in the public sector seems more limited than in the private sector. Right or wrong? If yes, what could be the factors?

Innovation understood in terms of “bringing to the public machine an idea” occurs when there are two conditions in particular:

The first is to have people around the table who are willing to try. Unfortunately, in the public context there are few incentives, not economic ones.

You have to create the capacity to involve other pieces of the organization as well. Heroes sooner or later fall, it is the history of our institutional tradition. When you manage to create a critical mass around an innovation, you are not alone, it is not something willed by the individual, but it becomes the product of a summation, you therefore create a snowball effect that therefore cannot stop.

“For me this is a totally new world compared to what I learned about in my course of study. In concrete terms, for example, with your intervention in tourism, what has been achieved?”

“The success indicator for our company has been the number of projects that are joining and that have slowly joined the platform. We are paid partly for the implementation of the platform, that is, the IT solution that allows people to report and join, and partly for the success based on the agreed numbers. We financial consulting will help you bring home at least 30 hotel facilities, at least 50 start-ups or similar, such as small companies that are already structured and established but need support. All projects are then evaluated on the basis of their impact. For example, you want to improve air quality. The logic of the ordinary programming of European funds was I pay you based on the number of trees you planted. So the connection of improving air quality was on the quantity of trees planted, regardless of the type of tree and where it was planted, and you paid based solely on the number of trees. This is understood not to be the solution to the problem, because it is not only the planting of the tree that is functional, but it is also necessary to achieve an improvement in air quality through the type of tree, where and how it is planted, and what other actions you put in place to make sure that after the trees you have better air quality. Today, when you propose with the NRP, you are not asking for the best proposal to plant 100 trees, but the best proposal to improve air quality from x to y in the Milan area. After that, individuals will hypothesize solutions, such as reducing urban traffic, improving electric road service. Together these actions will lead to the improvement of environmental impact. This is the logic that applies to all projects, so also on tourism. In conclusion, we are evaluated on the basis of the implementation of information desks, etc., and on the overall impact we achieve by joining the initiative.”

You told us about how Intellera was born, I was curious to know why Intellera was born, who came up with the idea?

One of our motivations for founding Intellera is the realization that we, we, 14 partners of the old PWC, have reached out.

The idea has matured among us that a multinational Anglo-Saxon consulting firm deeply driven by audit logic, if you will, because PWC was born as an audit firm, has in its core business the things I told you and has lateral everything else. If the core business is audit, connected to audit are all the financial operations and so on, which are an important part of companies like those, then there are activities such as consulting for private entities, after that comes consulting for the public market, because that is the absolute furthest thing from the core business. So to come back to the question, the awareness of the strength that we had toward the market, in that we had many contracts, relationships, potentials with a huge audience of subjects, external awareness and the internal awareness that within the organization anyway we were considered as distant from the core business; the combination of the two led us to say “but why don’t we try? But what is the risk?” Is the risk that as consultants, we will not be appreciated? However, we were starting with an already solid foundation. When you start activities of this kind some sense of adventure you have to have it, because otherwise you don’t launch, but also then to have a base that sustains you for a while, that is, to know that at the worst you don’t really go the next year, in the middle of the road. So there were internal conditions, external conditions, and even perhaps the will to try.

When you have as much growth as Intellera has, from 400 to 1,300 people, how do you give a working method to everyone who comes in? I heard earlier that a corporate culture is not defined, I guess there are certain working methodologies, how do you pass that on to so many people, maybe even their first work experience?

There is not the absence of a corporate culture but the absence of a unique culture. If you joined a classic big four, one of the most well-known consulting firms, you would have a very strong impact to standards, procedures, hierarchies, rules. They are Anglo-American set-up companies, they have large numbers to manage and so they define paths within which people fit, and the faster they do that the more successful they are in these career paths-that is the typical standard.

We come from this setting, the initial 400 were PwC for all intents and purposes, and that structure, for the purposes of the reasoning related to the amount of people, has held up well.

Considering the question, limiting it to “how do you organize these people?”, that there was the strong point taken by PwC, because we already had an organized structure, already standardized procedures, even the same guidelines were adopted as before.

What has changed? Guidelines are fine for large organizations, but for small organizations they are very burdensome and often cage people’s potential (if I am senior consultant I can or cannot do things, etc…), tend to make people think that they can only move in certain areas and not in certain others.

To have unleashed this potential has been to move from within such a strong structure, albeit with rules, to one in which all cultures are accepted-more than half of the people come from different organizational habits, and so a positive climate has been created from the standpoint of creativity.

However, the basic infrastructure was with a solid setting inherited from the previous reality.

So you had an adjustment that started both from your facility but also from the people who came?

Exactly. One of the things that I say most often is that, what we call the Intellera Spirit, goes a lot through the concept of unlocking potential, that is, unlocking potential: people should not be burdened by the weight of hierarchy, on the contrary I want to know what the proposal is, I want to understand what I can do, and, if the proposal is good, I don’t care if it comes from the last person and not from the manager or director, who maybe are busy with other things and forget to value people.

Unlocking the potential is taking the cap off the pot, and very interesting things come out of that.

This was the mechanism.

Going back to the question, it’s not that there were no cultures, I meant there wasn’t that situation where if you don’t have a rule you don’t speak, there’s a mix of different cultures with a strong basic organizational setting.

How does contact between large and small entities and Intellera take place?

Commercial contact between entities and Intellera is made through tenders, especially for large projects. Below a certain amount, thanks to the new procurement code, assignments are awarded directly, but the general rule remains to have a competitive bidding process. One of the strengths of our company is the tender office, which is practically a design office: it concentrates all the machine know-how and takes people with specialized expertise from time to time depending on the project. For example, if an entity requires digital transformation consulting, it will request a bid, which will be accompanied with techniques and approaches used. The technical blueprint for a big race is a binder that contains the state of the art of what there is to know about that area. Different skills need to be concentrated, similar to those required for an engineering job: just as every designer must have specific knowledge and must know what parameters to include, for example, within a specification, this is also true in our field, that is the fundamental mechanism. Today we have a “stock” of awarded tenders of about 350 mln euros: if we stopped acquiring new contracts, we would work for the next 3 years on the basis of contracts already acquired. The competition is when you do the best processing of an object; it is very conceptual, “head” work.

Connecting to the discourse of work in the Public Sector, how do you overcome this reticence toward innovation and thus how do you convince “the machine” to change? To give a practical example, SPID which has certainly revolutionized the way public services are accessed, but has been much criticized by citizens and others.

SPID is a very interesting example, it took off with the pandemic, before we were talking about 6-7 million Italians with SPID, after the pandemic it was up to 35 million.

In order to get people to adopt these systems you have to create a regulatory condition, so an obligation, but in the case of SPID the obligation was already there pre-COVID and had only led to 7 million users so in the first seven years of SPID you were at minimal values. Instead, the key is a discontinuity event; it is sad to note but the current success of SPID is due to the pandemic. To go back to a general discourse, in the small of organizations you need the two elements, the regulatory enabler, and on this aspect there is already an openness to innovations, but you also need to create the process discontinuity so that a cascading effect is generated that causes the organization to change. Of course, it should be added that it is also necessary to have a back office capable of handling it all.

Edited by:

Francesca Calanca – Gaetano De Rosa – Giuseppe Delli Priscoli – Martina Moscato – Vincenzo Palmieri – Francesca Sammartino

L'articolo Giancarlo Senatore: a focus on innovation in the public sector proviene da SEIUNISA.