Innovation |  |
Innovation and research are two areas which Finmeccanica excels in.
Last year the Group invested 1.6 billion Euros in R&D, equalling 16% of its
revenue. It boasts 9,100 employees working on design and engineering and 3,100
skilled staff involved in Research and Development.
Investments of this size could mean little if not made within the framework of
a strategic plan and central governance actions (technological governance)
creating synergies between companies and encouraging innovation.
Finmeccanica actively cooperates with 19 Italian research institutes, 29
foreign research institutes and universities, 41 Italian universities as well
as national and international institutions.
Centralised innovation is a requirement for Finmeccanica, supporting its
vocation in technological excellence and increasing the Group's ability to
overcome market challenges.
A fundamental element in fostering innovation routes is provided by the
Mindsh@re project: a process to enhance common technological capital, designed
with the aim of connecting people in a knowledge network which multiplies the
possibility of generating new ideas, products and talents, and is the engine
for a real innovation of value through "technological communities", a
transversal organisational model focusing and sharing research on subjects
considered to be of top industrial priority.
For these crossroads of knowledge to be able to create new and successful
paths, the potentials behind the creation of a common technological culture
and innovation need to be exploited to the full. The Group also dedicates
considerable energy to intelligence activities which encourage innovation,
fuelled by continuous attention to markets, with a view to developing a
network that involves clients and partners in order to effectively manage the
value chain.
The awarding of the Best Innovator 2005 prize by the research company AT
Kerney and the importance acquired by Premio Innovazione (Innovation Award),
combining ideas from each company of the Group, in its three years since
inception, clearly confirm the absolute importance of a cultural element that
is inborn in Finmeccanica and in its industrial essence.
