Research, development, innovation and training activities are at the heart of the project Innovation hub, within which Finmeccanica and the Milan Polytechnic have signed a framework agreement aimed at defining shared projects that benefit from the synergy between the Milanese university and the group.
The agreement was signed in Milan by the managing director and general manager of Finmeccanica, Mauro Moretti and by the Rector of the Milan Polytechnic, Prof. John Azzone. With this agreement, the new Finmeccanica, the "One Company", marks a further step forward towards a new way of understanding innovation. The company, which has always been structurally open to collaborations with universities, research institutions, SMEs and startups, intends, starting from this initiative, to raise the bar on Open Innovation, aware of the fact that a large company, in addition to enhancing the most original ideas produced internally, must also pay attention to the innovation produced and available outside its borders.
The Politecnico di Milano also entrusts a crucial role to strategic partnerships with important Italian and international companies on research topics of common interest. The University's objective is to direct its basic research towards integration in application contexts of industrial interest, as well as to create joint observatories on technological evolution.
Nine technological areas which, preliminarily, are part of the agreement: fluid – aero dynamics; structural and multifunctional structures and materials; mechanical and electrical systems; avionics systems and components; electronic guidance, navigation and control systems; software engineering; system engineering; optical and acoustic sensors; space robotics. To these areas is added an area of collaboration relating to managerial and professional training.
“The orientation of companies towards innovation – underlines Mauro Moretti, managing director and general manager of Finmeccanica – is today increasingly linked to the identification of advanced knowledge sources that only the university research system can satisfy and which support companies in maintaining a competitive position on the national and international market. For a large company like Finmeccanica, it is necessary to "open up" to innovation/invention processes, in a focused manner and, as in the case of the Innovation Hub, with centers of excellence at an international level. The goal for Finmeccanica is to identify a selected number of university centres, with internationally recognized excellence, with which to activate more targeted and structured collaborations, focused not only on research and technology transfer, to and from businesses, but also to high-level technical training. The agreement with the Milan Polytechnic – concludes Moretti – goes in this direction, with the aim of strengthening the profitable synergies between industry and research for the benefit of the country system”.
“The agreement with Finmeccanica is part of a strategy in which the Politecnico di Milano wants to work alongside the industrial realities of the country for medium-term collaborations aimed at creating an increasingly permeable research environment between academic scientific methodologies and the needs and technologies industries – says Giovanni Azzone, Rector of the University – In this strategy Finmeccanica, which represents an international point of reference for numerous engineering sectors, and its willingness to invest in research with the Politecnico di Milano, represent an opportunity for innovation, for researchers from both institutions and above all for the attractiveness of our country. A committee-guide will be set up with strategic guidance and monitoring functions so that the wishes are transformed into planning".
