"Being a bank in Italy today is often something bad, banks are often seen as an enemy of the real economy, Banca Ifis has no intention of belonging to this category", commented Giovanni Bossi, CEO of Banca Ifis during the event presentation of the New Craft Club which took place at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan where the New Craft exhibition is underway (ends on 12 September). The companies already protagonists of the New Craft exhibition will form the first nucleus of the club.
“In Banca Ifis – continued Bossi – we have always professed the very strong belief that financial activity is at the service of the real economy. Conversely, where the paradigm is reversed and the real economy becomes the way to operate the financial system, the system fails. Our goal is to support companies and people in a healthy and virtuous path in which we do business but in which we also want to help companies do business. Not all banks start from such a stated objective, we have been demonstrating that we have been oriented in this direction for many years and New Craft is our concrete demonstration of our proximity to the corporate world".
Italian manufacturing today is made up of 400 companies of which the fashion/home furnishings/jewellery sectors account for around 80 companies which represent 10% of employees and as much as 20% of exports. In the context of the profound evolution that the international economic landscape is experiencing, even these SMEs are faced with fundamental choices and challenges: those posed by the digital transformation.
Digital technologies can in fact offer new opportunities for innovation and customization to companies that know how to exploit their potential, integrating them with their own artisan know-how. Digital, from 3D printers to laser cutting, in fact represents a possible solution not only for product and process review but also for recovering margins and profit. "Those who invest in technology earn more, the numbers show that they have higher margins - said Stefano Micelli of the NordEst Foundation - In terms of strategy, the companies that today are on the frontier are developing strategies that no longer have to do with seriality, but with the concept of "made to measure". Today, technology produces economic benefits when coupled with a variety and tailor-made production capacity. In this new way of doing business, therefore, the relationship with demand is just as important as manufacturing in the strict sense. It is therefore not just a technological problem but a business one, a way of being on the market".
But are we ready to do this? “There is little dialogue on this with universities and research centers – explained Micelli – for this reason we have imagined the club as a place to meet the desire for dialogue, with research and testimonies, inside a house, the Triennale which today it is a natural bridge between the world of culture and business and from today, we hope, also the world of technology. It is an important challenge for the country which also greatly affects the more advanced countries of Europe, as well as Asia to a certain extent. Taiwan and Korea, for example, have similar research programs in place. The idea is to cross these agendas and bring the reflection to an international arena”.
The club will develop an articulated activity on different levels involving interlocutors and protagonists belonging to business, finance, research and institutions to favor the exchange of knowledge and encourage synergies between the various fields that innovation involves. So not a closed club but an environment enlivened by the companies present with the intention of bringing a transfer of culture, the exchange of experiences, and of representing a driving force and development element for all the companies that wish to be involved.
A meeting point that concretely serves businesses that will be organized through three types of activities: discussion events, sharing of training and research, an exhibition presence that continues the exhibition on a regular basis at the Triennale headquarters so that the most innovative experiences can find their visibility and represent a stimulus and a spur to improvement. The calendar of activities for the two-year period 2017/2018 will be presented by the end of the year.
