Leonardo enhances the debate on growth, research and innovation for the development of the “Country system”

Rome  28 February 2020 12:24

  • Attendees of the #InnovarePerCrescere meeting include Ministers Luigi Di Maio, Stefano Patuanelli, Gaetano Manfredi, Vincenzo Amendola representatives of local institutions, in addition to Gianni De Gennaro and Alessandro Profumo, Chairman and CEO of Leonardo, Roberto Cingolani, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer and Giancarlo Schisano, Managing Director of the Aerostructures Division
  • Inaugurated Leonardo’s Aerotech Campus, a centre with the skills on innovative high-tech research programmes in Aerospace, Defence and Security (AD&S)

Through the combination of research and technology, with industry and sustainability and specific attention to young people, #InnovarePerCrescere, took place today at the Leonardo plant in Pomigliano D’Arco (Naples). It was an opportunity to promote an open dialogue with leading representatives from local institutions, the world of economics and the labour market, with the aim of pursuing a common strategy towards the development of the “Country system”. In a European and international context, research, growth and innovation are at the centre of economic and societal changes and constitute determining factors not only for consolidation but also for the creation of new opportunities for industry, territories and young people.

Participants at #InnovarePerCrescere meeting included: Luigi Di Maio, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Stefano Patuanelli, Minister of Economic Development, Gaetano Manfredi, Minister of University and Research, Vincenzo Amendola, Minister for European Affairs, Valeria Fascione, Regional Minister for Internationalisation, Start-ups and Innovation of the Campania Region, Raffaele Russo, Mayor of Pomigliano, together with Gianni De Gennaro Leonardo’s Chairman, Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, Roberto Cingolani, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at the Company and Giancarlo Schisano, Managing Director of the Aerostructures Division.

During the event, Leonardo inaugurated the Aerotech Campus, a centre of excellence. The Centre will carry the best skills and knowledge on innovative research programmes forward with a high technological profile and a further view to the development, on an international scale, of the AD&S sector, and of the connected entrepreneurial fabric of young people and of the territories of reference. The Aerotech Campus, in the wake of the Leonardo Labs – the Company’s new technology incubators intended to long-term research, essential for strengthening competitiveness in the AD&S sector – will focus on the study of new materials and new production processes, promoting innovative technological solutions in-line with market trends. Among these, the development of new materials with low environmental impact, research on composite materials with low specific weight in the face of greater elasticity and mechanical strength – leading solutions on the sustainability front – as well as digitalisation applied to production processes, a key element for the development of a next-generation manufacturing.

Thanks to the collaboration with the University of Naples “Federico II”, the Aerotech Campus will host, from March to December 2020, the activities of the Aerotech Academy, an advanced training course in the aerospace sector with a didactic programme structured into three strands: the core technologies of aerostructures, industry 4.0 and digitalisation as well as the challenges for the latest-generation aircraft. More specifically, the Aerotech Academy will offer an interdisciplinary path that combines and integrates advanced research topics with applications of interest to the manufacturing industry through innovative teaching and learning methodologies.