Il Digital Economy Center Strategic Report 2024 (Ced) highlights an increasingly widespread trend in the industrial landscape: the coopetition, that is, the combination of cooperation e competition between companies. According to the Ced, this approach is gaining ground as a response to the challenges of a constantly changing world, where technological innovation and geopolitical dynamics impose new scenarios. Presented in Rome, in the Aldo Moro Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the report shows that from 2003 to 2022 increased cases of collaboration between competing companies, with a significant increase in collaborative patents.
Stefano Donnarumma, CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), spoke in the introduction to the report, underlining how co-opetition can also be useful in transport sector. “A winning strategy could be to mix the two elements in the coopetition paradigm to obtain significant advantages not only for the players operating in the system, but also for the community and the environment”, stated the CEO.
Coopetition: A Growing Model
The Ced report, which is based on a sample of around 2.000 global companies, shows a growing diffusion of coopetition. From 2003 to 2022, XNUMX cases were recorded approximately 15 thousand cases of collaboration between competitors, with a 159% increase in shared patents. In particular, the collaborative patents have now made up 82% of the total. A figure that suggests that the search for common solutions is becoming a distinctive element for many companies.
In the sector of mobility sectors, coopetition dynamics are already in place. New technologies, such as magnetic levitation transport systems, Hyperloop and vertical take-off vehicles, are redrawing the boundaries of what is possible. In this scenario, collaboration between competing companies could foster the development of innovative solutions, as Donnarumma pointed out. “Sharing technologies and skills can lead to creative solutions that neither party could have achieved alone,” he said.
The CEO of FS also highlighted the value of the collaboration with the Ced, which represents for the company an opportunity to explore and concretely apply the co-opetition model with other industrial entities, both Italian and international.
A vision for the future
The report has triggered a debate involving representatives of the political and business world. During the panel discussion “Coopetition for Technological Innovation for Italy, Europe and the World”, Mario tartaglia, head of the Fs Research Centre, discussed how Italy and Europe can leverage this approach to address global challenges related to technological innovation and sustainability.
