Digitization and Open Innovation Are Key for Growth

Today, digital technologies and open innovation are key for development and innovation, both within the same sectors and industries and intra-industry, says Alessandro Profumo, CEO of Leonardo, a company active in the defense, aerospace and security sectors, in a conversation in the Executive Chats series with Rector Gianmario Verona.

"In addition to our dual-use products, both civilian and military, such as helicopters, we also develop technologies used in other industries and sectors," says Profumo, Bocconi Alumnus of the Year in 1997. "Open innovation is fundamental. The technology that is developed in the civil domain is then used in the military domain and therefore open innovation also within the same industry, not only between different industries, is fundamental to capture new opportunities. While digital technologies are today fundamental so as to be closer to customers' requirements and rapid in innovation."