To cultivate and keep brains in Italy there is a secret: you need to offer them opportunities and this is what the Golinelli Foundation of Bologna intends to do. To intercept creativity and talent, to engrave potential like a diamond the factory wanted by philanthropist Marino Golinelli grows up, transforming itself from a "Citadel" of knowledge and culture into a "City", with international projection. To do this, it doubles the available surface area (from 9 to 14, from 5 covered square meters to 10) and expands its range of action, closing the entire supply chain in a single ecosystem, which includes education, training, research, technology transfer, new companies, business model innovation, financial investments.
It is a long-term strategic plan, which it is no coincidence that it is called Opus 2065, but since the future is now, the spaces are already partially completed, the rest is in the pipeline by 2018, the projects have already started. FIRSTonline talks about it with Antonio Danieli, director general of the Foundation.
Doctor Danieli, the Golinelli factory has just celebrated its second birthday: the goal was to create the citadel of knowledge and culture for the young people who will live the future. It has been reached? What balance can be made of two years of activity?
“The balance seems broadly positive to me. The Golinelli Foundation is 30 years old, but it has accelerated since the Opificio and our activities have been concentrated in this place. From 2015 to today, around 200 people have passed through us, mostly young people; since 2009 we have counted one million visitors. The last 24 months, even with the introduction of Opus 2065, have been transitional, we have put down deep roots to build a solid future. The citadel is becoming a real city, an ecosystem that covers the entire supply chain, from the first steps in the education of children, to teacher training, research, technology transfer, the creation of Start Ups, finance, enterprise . All this is possible also thanks to the contamination with a series of partners. For example, we have introduced a PhD in Big Data with the University of Bologna, the Polytechnic of Milan, Cineca, Ifn and IIt, the Isi Foundation. We have 110 applications and 15 4-year scholarships already awarded, in English. We are already working on a second cycle. Stock exchanges will increase and the interest of businesses in the initiative is growing significantly”.
What will the next steps be?
“We are building new spaces and the Opificio will also become a business incubator, it will cover 14 square meters by December 2018. Since there is no business without an initial investment, we are taking care of the financial aspect. At the conference “The New World. Training, Research and Finance: concrete utopias for development”, which took place last Wednesday in our office, we talked about this. Meanwhile we have created the Utopia fund with Principia Sgr. The initial endowment is 70 million euros, but the goal is to raise other resources”.
How do you relate with the institutions?
“We have long since set aside the idea of subsidiarity. We are streamlined and can be a goad for the institutions, a sort of turbo in the engine of training and business creation. Our active attitude has made inroads and we have always managed to work with the public side, without political distinctions, because doing is a universal language. We are currently one of the 58 territorial laboratories created in Italy. We have an excellent relationship with the Miur and the expansions we are making to the Opificio have also been well received by the local authorities, we have not encountered any bureaucratic obstacles. Our goal is to keep brains in Italy and our interlocutors understand this. On the other hand, networking is very important in our opinion, which is why we try to build bridges and design converging trajectories. The Foundation is an enzyme to bring all the players, companies, universities, research centers, schools and institutions together and run fast".
You are a unique reality on a national level: but isn't this territorial rooting a little tight for you?
“From here we expand our radial relationships and can connect with the world. Ours is a capillary work on the territory: from Bologna we look to Modena and Ferrara, to Florence and to all of the central north (Turin, Milan Trento Padua). However, the Opificio Golinelli aspires to become a hub for scientific and technological innovation of European caliber that dialogues with everyone, from Tel Aviv to London. We are enlarging and expanding our network because only on significant dimensions do we compete internationally or at least get noticed".
You recently inaugurated the new Golinelli Arts and Sciences Center: how do you want to unite these two worlds, that of art and that of science, which are apparently distant?
“The Golinelli Arts and Sciences Center completes our vision. There is research on how to keep "art, science and technology" together, we want to intercept the converging parables of the various scientific and technological sectors, from mechatronics, to home automation, from automotive, to robotics, deep learning, machine learning, biotech, life sciences, quantum physics. Italy has a particular taste for beauty and art and has an important productive DNA. We want to unite these two worlds, genetically modifying them within the industry 4.0 paradigm, to become increasingly competitive, without giving up our identity. We have to start from who we are and the qualities we have to improve our competitiveness”.
You recently argued that the Opificio is the dress, but that more important is the vision of the wearer and that the secret of success is Marino Golinelli, great philanthropist and creator of the Opificio: how can the vision of the Golinelli Foundation be summarized ?
“Marino Golinelli has been able to transform his vision of the world into a large project. He is a very successful entrepreneur and felt the need to give back to the company some of what he received. This is why he wanted the Opificio: a place where young people can exploit their talents, transforming their energy into business, as he did and maybe one day giving back part of what they will have received. It is certainly a virtuous circuit that Golinelli has set in motion, starting from his gaze on the world. His is a pharmaceutical company and the theme of well-being and health is at the center of the Opificio's work. Today Marino Golinelli, who is 97 years old, took a step to the side. He is honorary president and has passed the baton to the president Andrea Zanotti, the looks have multiplied and enriched the overall vision, but the initial seed remains the one that made this great plant grow ”.
