“We have to decide where to go before deciding how to use the money. The watchword is: quality”. In short, it is not the usual unconditional request for funding that comes from the Forum of young entrepreneurs of Confindustria in Stresa, on Lake Maggiore. Talking is Marco Gay, born in 1976, president of young people, vice president of Piedmontese industrialists and founder and CEO of Webworking srl, a company specializing in digital communication and multimedia.
"Based on the fact that the context is extremely difficult - explains Gay -, especially in a region like ours, closely linked to manufacturing, which like the rest of the country is saving itself thanks to exports, we want to be stubbornly optimistic". Without, however, invoking funds that do not exist. “First of all, we need a serious strategic plan, such as the one we are developing with the Region, and also a project on how to use the money arriving from the EU in the period 2014-2020”.
In short, ideas first, as the theme of the meeting itself dictates: innovation. But how do you innovate in times of crisis? “By betting everything on human capital – insists the number one of the young entrepreneurs of Piedmont -: the challenge of today's companies is not on the quantity, but on the quality of the product. However, a change of mentality is also needed: we must think of the fourth industrial revolution, which passes precisely through human capital. Let us always remember that the company has the ability to create value”.
Young entrepreneurs who focus on the question, but who also try to suggest concrete solutions. “The most worrying fact is the lack of trust: we want opportunities back, as young people and as entrepreneurs. We are not looking for excuses and we only ask to encourage investments in R&D and human capital and to encourage aggregations even beyond the business networks. Resources yes, but for human and cultural innovation. These are not costs, but investments and vision”.
“A project for human capital and knowledge – concludes Gay -, where startups and spin-offs are normal passages in the life of a company”. Where at the center there are no longer the quantity and funding rain, but the merit, ethics and ideas.
