2nd GERMAN-ITALIAN
INNOVATION CONFERENCE

Master of ceremony: Eckart Petzold, Lawyer and Head of Italian Desk, Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH

We all stand on the brink of a new industrial revolution, as the current digital transformation is unprecedented in its speed and pervasiveness. This paradigm shift risks to leave Europe at the margins of the global innovation challenge: according to the EU Commission, only a fifth of companies in the EU are highly digitized. Major efforts are thus needed at the European level. In order to foster European technological leadership, an ambitious research and innovation policy needs to address Europe’s innovation gap by turning excellent knowledge into new products, solutions and business models, and by better structuring the dialogue between the innovation actors. Europe should support the digital transformation of its economy starting from the traditional, robotics and manufacturing sectors in order to enhance European independence in our digital capacities, including through a common industrial digital and cloud platform.

Moderator: Wolf Michael Kühne, Partner, DLA Piper

Since 2014, Italy has developed a comprehensive policy to facilitate access to financing for innovative businesses with targeted tax credits and simplified rules, to promote a regulatory ecosystem more conducive to productive investment, to provide incentives for companies’ capitalization and market listing. The mission of the National Promotional Bank of Italy “Cassa Depositi e Prestiti” has been strengthened towards spearheading innovation and digital infrastructure. Alongside the national “Finance for Growth” and “Industry 4.0” Compacts, a comprehensive toolkit of regulatory, financial and fiscal measures at the regional level is supporting domestic and foreign investors.

Moderator: Eckart Petzold, Lawyer and Head of Italian Desk, Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH

Opening remarks: The Chambers of Commerce in Italy and Germany in promoting innovation and internationalization

Presentations:

Master of ceremony: Tonia Mastrobuoni, Correspondent for Germany, La Repubblica

Investing in Italian Innovation – the Italian Trade Agency as one-stop shop for Investment promotion: selected showcases for investment opportunities

Introduction and presentation of business opportunities in Italian regions: Stefano Nigro, Director, Foreign Direct Investment Unit, Italian Trade Agency

Cultural and creative industries score amongst the most dynamic components of the Italian and of the German economy, accounting in Italy for € 92,2 billion n value added (€ 98,8 billion in Germany) and providing 1,55 million jobs (1,6 million in Germany), most of them high quality jobs. At the same time, creative industries are now confronted with the challenges of the digital society, as they are generating an increasing amount of digital content, adding to the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data we are producing daily, such as the 350 million photos uploaded on Facebook daily and 100 hours of video uploaded on YouTube every minute. As creatives and digital businesses are strongly linked, both in Italy and Germany, in several domains such as architecture, design and media, this session will discuss how their mutual cooperation and partnership can be strengthened, profiting also from EU support, such as the “Creative Europe” Program

Moderator: Laura Cinicola, Head of German Desk, LABLAW Studio Legale Failla Rotondi & Partners
Discussants:

Digital Health is forcing disruptive solutions in the medical field through machine learning, allowing doctors to access patient files, lab tests and images such as X-rays at any time. Recent technological achievements have revolutionized clinical practice, from prevention through diagnosis, monitoring to disease management, and enabled unprecedented public interest and engagement. Recent achievements in mobile technology and sensor/wearable devices have created big data streams, facilitating participatory systems that are radically changing the way we monitor populations with unprecedented opportunities for disease surveillance, early-warning, preparedness, and rapid response.

Moderator: Emanuele Gatti, President, Italian Chamber of Commerce to Germany
Discussants:

In 2030, two thirds of the world population will live in metropolitan areas, while these are expected to add another 2.5 billion new residents by 2050. The megacities of the future will be different from those today: they will have to be cleaner, more sustainable and more connected. The movement to make cities smarter is transforming municipal government worldwide, as it faces increasing environmental pressures and infrastructure needs. Smart mobility solutions, such as car sharing and ride sharing, will enable urban transport to operate with far fewer cars than we have today, fading away the distinction between public and private transportation.

Moderator: Timm Kehler, CEO, Zukunft ERDGAS e.V.

Discussants:

The future of learning will be dramatically different, in school and throughout life. The concept of a “lifelong learning” becoming the norm, means that learning will be a lot more important, and different, for the next generations. Most people will have at least 6 different careers, requiring fundamental reeducating, whilst the relentless speed of innovation will constantly demand new skills and knowledge to keep pace, let alone an edge. These dynamics are expected to have an extensive impact on the education and vocational training market: To what extent will machines replace workers? What new jobs will emerge? How will the role of managers change as a consequence? What role will education and life-long learning play in the process of aligning competences, practices and mindsets to the new context?

Moderator: Domenico Mauriello, Development Manager, Unioncamere