“On 13 February, in the presence of a hundred Italian and foreign journalists, the Pirelli P8 was unveiled at the Castello degli Arcimboldi in Bicocca”. This was how, forty years ago, the company house organ Fatti e Notizie, in its third issue of 1980, announced the creation of the first radial tire with low rolling resistance. Those were years when the oil crisis had hit the whole Western world hard: “Pirelli”, proclaimed the press releases at the time, “is very sensitive to the energy problem, and for years has set itself the goal of developing technological solutions that will make it possible to manufacture products that can help achieve energy-conservation objectives”.

And so it was that, after a period of technological development carried out at breakneck speed, it finally came up with “a tyre that, with its reduced rolling resistance, allows for significant reductions in the fuel consumption of vehicles, without compromising – and indeed, in certain respects, improving – the high level of performance that users have come to expect from a tyre: comfort, durability, safety in cornering, on wet roads and when braking.” With the Pirelli P8 forty years ago, drivers started getting used to the term LRR (Low Rolling Resistance), which has since become one of the cornerstones on which the technology of “green” eco-compatible tyres is based. With the new radial tyre of the Pirelli Serie Larga family, the absorption of power, and thus of fuel, caused by rolling resistance went down by an average of 20%, and even 40% when compared with conventional tyres, which were still commonly used on the international market at the time. Under the engineer Franco Bottasso, Pirelli technicians had obtained this smooth rolling effect by means of a mix of technological solutions: from the development of low-profile Serie 65 geometries to the use of a tread pattern cut at sharp angles. The February 1980 event at the Bicocca degli Arcimboldi was actually a pre-launch – a promise made to the international auto industry. “The P8 is currently being tested by some European car manufacturers”, Bottasso told the journalists, “who are studying ways to adapt the individual sizes to their models. The use of the tyre as original equipment will broaden as from 1981.”

And indeed it did: eighteen months later, in September 1981, the same journalists were able to watch the new tyre being tried out at the Pirelli test track in Vizzola Ticino, in the province of Varese. On board cars that were very popular at the time, such as the Opel Kadett and Fiat Ritmo, which were fitted with electronic sensors, the trade press could clearly see how “the fight against the high cost of fuel has to start from tyres. Drivers will end up engaging psychologically in an energy-saving form of driving”, wrote the Corriere d’Informazione. Energy consumption was directly related to savings: “If all the cars in circulation in Italy – about 17 million in 1979 – were fitted with the P8”, wrote Fatti e Notizie, “the Italians would save approximately 550-600 billion lire”.

Just one year earlier, in September 1980, a press release entitled “Pirelli and the Energy Crisis” reported this news: “The P8 is also suitable for electric cars. It is no coincidence that PGE”, a manufacturer of electric vehicles in the 1970s, “has chosen it for its latest model.” An announcement that may have been seen as simply a curiosity at the time but that could hardly be more topical and relevant today.

It’s called ‘Scribit’. Scribit is a robot that writes, draws and erases, designed and created by an Italian team headed by Carlo Ratti, architect, engineer and director of the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. And, according to the American weekly magazine Time, it is one of the twenty best inventions of 2019. Ratti launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund the creation of his robot, raising a total $2.4 million.

Scribit is therefore the extraordinary result of a synthesis between global innovation moulded by Italian ingenuity, international public financing and high-tech vision, developed at the point where research in university laboratories and industrial manufacturing capacity meet. Ratti is a great poster boy, with a life divided between the USA and professional studios in Turin and Milan.

As a matter of fact, the Italians are leaders in the robotics industry, among the best in the world. The roots of this industry lie in cutting-edge engineering and electronics (the memory of the achievements of Adriano Olivetti and Mario Tchou, the ‘forefathers’ of the computer, is still very much alive: in here recent The Mysterious Affair at Olivetti (published by Knopf), American journalist Meryle Secrest reopens the discussion on the shadowy CIA manoeuvres designed to steal the hard-won crown from the Italians in the technology sector. Furthermore, we can draw upon the wealth of manufacturing knowledge that we boast, and which enables us to continue to claim significant portions of the global markets.

After years of growth, our robotics industry is now suffering the effects of the slowdown of the world economy, as well as the drop in investments in Italy (thanks to the governments, including the Lega Nord-Five Star Movement coalition, which blocked financial support for innovation and contributed to the spread of a general feeling of distrust, linked to the anti-business and anti-science political climate). Despite this, the robotics industry is still full of life, and has what it takes to begin growing and competing once again, as the entire economy comes to terms with the ‘digital revolution’ and with the development of Artificial Intelligence in production processes: ‘Industry 4.0’, the evolution of big data, and a manufacturing sector that is marked by the ‘knowledge economy’ as well as by a paradigm shift with regard to environmental and social sustainability, in which high-tech developments play a crucial positive role.

In order to gain a clearer understanding of all this, it’s worth taking a look at two recent studies, the first by Censis and the second by Symbola and Enel. The former focuses on the fear of innovation with respect to work, and the latter looks at growth opportunities for Italian companies.

The survey by Censis-Adapt (the labour market foundation established in 2000 on the initiative of Marco Biagi, the labour law scholar murdered by the Red Brigades in March 2002) reveals that 7 million people are afraid of losing their jobs as result of the spread of new technologies. A widespread fear, then, but not one that is backed up by the figures: recent studies of the labour market in Europe (Il Giornale, 6 February) show that while 1.64 million low-skilled jobs were replaced by machine activity, a further 3.4 million new posts were created, linked to the increase in productivity as a result of the impact of digital technologies and the spread of new professional areas. Francesco Seghezzi, president of the Adapt Foundation, maintains that these numbers are accurate: ‘The assumption is that innovation and automation lead to a reduction in jobs is incorrect. If anything, we need to reposition and retrain workers. This would provide the mid-market sector – which is most heavily affected by the consequences of technological innovation and changes to jobs – with the potential to increase knowledge levels.’

Training, then. And flexibility, to adapt to new production processes. This issue is clearly explained by Marco Bentivogli, a trade union leader who is acutely aware of the relationship between innovation, the labour market, knowledge and rights. The current Secretary-General of FIM, the federation of metalworkers of the CISL, has released a book entitled (Contrordine compagni (“Against orders, comrades”, published by Rizzoli), a brilliant and well-documented work which serves as a ‘manual of resistance against technophobia, for the redemption of the labour market and of Italy as a whole. … ‘It’s not technology that’s bad for employment. It’s the absence of it.’

These concerns are certainly legitimate. And among the many works that document these concerns is an essay by Marco Magnani, professor at LUISS and Harvard universities, entitled Fatti non foste per vivere come robot (“You were not made to live like robots”, published by Utet), which has just come to bookshops. Among other things, it looks at how half of the 5 million manufacturing jobs that were lost in the US between 2000 and 2017 were a result of automation, and how entire supply chains (from the car industry to the credit industry, and from agriculture to transport and other services) have been turned upside down when it comes to employment. But something else is emerging, albeit not immediately, and as such, we must turn our attention to welfare and training policies that can mitigate the human and social cost of this process. ‘Robots are revolutionising the labour market, but in Italy nobody is thinking about the future’, summarises Massimo Giannini in ‘Affari&Finanza’, in the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica (10 February). The fact remains that instead of discussing and deciding on these issues with intelligence, knowledge and a sense of responsibility, the last two governments have continued to insist on the welfarism of the ‘citizens’ income’ scheme and the ‘100 quota’ for pensions, and this says a lot about the political insipidness of those who should be leading the country out of the doldrums of the crisis.

Fortunately, players in society and business are also stirring into action. And alongside the existing concerns, the focus should also be on the potential to achieve excellence, as suggested by the Symbola and Enel report on ‘Made in Italy’ innovation and automation, in which a hundred different Italian stories are recounted, covering everything from domestic robots to space robots, companies in the North and South of the country, and technologies that are primed to improve people’s lives: innovations that can be applied to everyday activities, healthcare, industry and research.

Ermete Realacci, president of Symbola, explains: ‘Both our intuition and our experience, which have been further developed through our collaboration with Enel, confirm that if we look at Italy in a different light, we can discover things that others do not see. This is also true for robotic technologies, which already provide a contribution to a number of major Made in Italy supply chains, including food, fashion, wood/furniture and mechanics. The challenges of the future also play a key role, the need to tackle the climate crisis first and foremost, with an approach that combines empathy and technology. The 100 experiences described in the report demonstrate that if Italy stays true to itself, it can overcome any challenge placed in its path, thanks to the country’s ability to combine functionality, beauty and humanism, the product of a culture that even in the depths of the most advanced technological challenges, does not lose sight of the quest for an economy and a society that exist on a human scale, as we say in the Assisi manifesto.’

Francesco Starace, CEO of Enel, provides the following clarification: ‘Working in partnership with Symbola, our goal is to enhance the precious heritage of excellence that characterises our country, highlighting success stories that are often overlooked and focusing on the talent that is not always recognised, but which together contribute to achieving progress through the implementation of solutions on a human scale. Technology and research are the pillars upon which this study is founded, and which collects 100 positive examples of companies operating in the Made in Italy robotics and automation sector: these are tales of researchers, figures from the academic world and companies who are able to anticipate the future, bearing testament once again to the competitiveness and the cutting-edge nature of the Italian system on the world stage. We firmly believe that our country, and the excellence and skills that it boasts, can serve as an example of sustainable growth on a global level, demonstrating that it is possible to bring the human dimension back to the heart of the economic model, in line with the Assisi manifesto.’

The report, produced in collaboration with the UCIMU Foundation (which unites Italian machine tool manufacturers), states that ‘robots and automata are becoming part of everyday life, and are increasingly present in domestic cleaning applications, recreational activities and assistance services.’ Worldwide, the robotics market has been valued at $16.5 billion, and in 2018 alone, 422,000 units were delivered, an increase of 6% over the previous year. The Italian industry is sixth in the world in terms of the number of industrial robots installed (69,142 units in 2018), behind China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Germany. Italy is also sixth in the world in terms of the number of scientific publications on robotic research (over 10,000), ahead of France, Canada, South Korea and Spain.

With regard to the industrial sector, the Italian robotics supply chain is composed of 104,000 companies, a number which has grown by 10% over five years, with a total of 429,000 employees. Milan leads the ranking with around 12,000 companies and 110,000 employees; it is followed by Rome with 11,000 companies and 63,000 employees, Naples with 5,000 companies and 13,000 employees and Turin with 5,000 companies and 25,000 employees, with around 2,000 companies spread across Brescia, Padua, Bari, Bologna, Florence, Monza-Brianza, Bergamo and Salerno.

Italian robotics solutions are even being used in space: a number of the technologies used on NASA’s robotic probe InSight, which landed on Mars in 2018, were Made in Italy, and further Italian technologies will be present on the probe used on the ExoMars mission to study the soil of Mars in 2020; these include the Larri retro-reflector hemisphere (Laser Retro-Reflector for InSight) which will provide the position of the lander on the surface of Mars, developed by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) with the support of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). So there we have it: technology, innovation, development. A good prospect for the future. The labour market included.

A recently published work of research provides an analysis of the extent to which welfare tools are employed within companies, and indicates the difficulties encountered in using these

Business well-being, or rather, well-being in businesses. An important condition that can make the entire production cycle simpler and more effective, and in Italy, one that is ratified within the context of national collective bargaining agreements, a significant milestone on the journey of growth (including cultural) upon which the organisation of production has embarked. And yet, well-being in businesses is a goal that is still to be achieved by many manufacturing companies. Seeking to understand the situation, as well as the obstacles that prevent this goal from being achieved in full, is something that must be done on a regular basis.

And that is precisely what Franca Maino, Federico Razetti and Valentino Santoni (from the University of Milan and Centro Einaudi’s ‘Percorsi di secondo welfare’ project) have done in their essay ‘Welfare aziendale, contrattazione e premi di risultato’ (‘Corporate welfare, negotiation and performance-related bonuses’), which appears in the recently-published ‘XXI Rapporto mercato del lavoro e contrattazione collettiva’ (’11th report on the labour market and collective bargaining’).

The primary objective of the research is to analyse the current situation in which corporate welfare finds itself, within the context of national collective bargaining and its relationship with performance-related bonuses. The concept of corporate welfare (with a particular focus on national collective bargaining agreements) is first placed in context, before the concrete ways in which it is applied are analysed in further detail, above all from a statistical perspective.

The results that the three researchers present demonstrate perfectly the steps that still need to be taken in order to achieve a widespread and uniform application of welfare tools within corporate contracts. For example, there are major geographical differences, as well as discrepancies based on the size of the individual company assessed. The authors, however, stress the following: ‘Right in the darkest depths of the crisis, the focus on welfare has been an innovative development that has had a profound effect on the nature of professional relationships and between social partners, establishing itself as a key clause in any contract, now and into the near future.’

Maino, Razetti and Santoni’s analysis of corporate welfare provides an excellent snapshot of the current status of an important and delicate issue within our modern industrial system.

Welfare aziendale, contrattazione e premi di risultato
Franca Maino, Federico Razetti, Valentino Santoni
(University of Milan and Centro Einaudi’s ‘Percorsi di secondo welfare’ project)
In ‘XXI Rapporto mercato del lavoro e contrattazione collettiva 2019′ (’11th report on the labour market and collective bargaining, 2019’), various authors, pages 377-394.

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A new book provides a synthesis of the tools that can help us develop the ability to analyse the passing of time

Looking to the future in an astute and conscious manner. It is impossible to really predict what is going to happen in any of our lives, and in the various sections of society, and this unpredictability extends to the management of the organisation of production, and of course of the economy in all its facets. Attempting to predict what will happen tomorrow, however, is not something that should be disregarded; we must ensure, as we often already do, that we have adequate cognitive tools in order to prevent ourselves from being tempted to transform the imaginary into reality. Reading L’enigma del futuro (‘The enigma of the future’) by Andrea Iacona is extremely useful (as well as fascinating) for anyone seeking to fill a toolbox for analysing the future. This is an exercise that can determine the fate of individuals and entire communities in certain spheres.

Iacona teaches logic and reasoning at the University of Turin, and progresses through an analysis of time (and therefore of past, present and future events), a feat that is far from easy, but nonetheless certainly useful to attempt. There are two potential starting points: on the one hand, human beings regard the future as something real, and believe that there are answers to their questions and want to know what they are. At the same time, they are convinced that they can change the course of events with the choices they make.

Iacona guides the reader; he starts by identifying the problem (the study of which he calls ‘future contingents’), and then moves on to the various ways we can analyse time, before presenting the cognitive tools that can help us to answer the question ‘what lies ahead of us?’ The themes of fatalism, indeterminacy and interpretation are then addressed, before Iacona looks at historical and personal time.

This is not an easy read, even though the author writes clearly and totally comprehensibly. It is the subject matter that is somewhat complex to deal with. It remains however an extremely useful book (and among other things, relatively short), which revolves around an important theme, perhaps even more so today than in the past.

L’enigma del futuro
Andrea Iacona
il Mulino, 2019

The company as a place where technical skills meet artistic creativity, and where science and humanistic culture come together. This will be the subject of discussion today at the Nuvola Lavazza in Turin, with an evening devoted to the presentation of our publishing project on the experience of Pirelli magazine, Industrial Humanism: An Anthology of Thoughts, Words, Images and Innovations (Mondadori, 2019). Together with other company periodicals such as Comunità and Civiltà delle Macchine, the magazine Pirelli. Rivista d’informazione e di tecnica promoted an extraordinary period of “industrial humanism” from the post-war period to the 1960s. This was a time when large Italian companies were becoming powerhouses of both production and culture, and company staff collaborated with writers, intellectuals, and artists.

The debate about the role of the company in giving meaning to work, and in aiming to achieve environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and well-being is still very much alive today. The meeting, which was coordinated by Gian Carlo Cerruti of the University of Turin, will be attended by the professors Giuseppe Berta, of the Bocconi University in Milan, and Maria Luisa Bianco, of the University of Eastern Piedmont, the director of the Pirelli Foundation, Antonio Calabrò, Michele Coppola, executive director of art, culture and historical heritage at Intesa Sanpaolo, the president of the Collegio Ghislieri in Pavia, Gian Arturo Ferrari, one of the authors of the book Industrial Humanism, and Bartolomeo Salomone, director-general of the Ferrero Foundation and chairman of Ferrero SpA. The evening will also include a presentation of the national congress of the Italian Association for People Management (AIDP), which will be held on 22 and 23 May 2020 at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni (OGR) in Turin.

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Ca’ Foscari University of Venice has published a collection of studies on how the meaning of production is interwoven with the way in which it is portrayed

Doing business; designing and creating something that has a purpose, an importance, a meaning. ‘Doing business’ may be synonymous with economic action, but it also applies to other areas of activity, as in every-day speech, and it has its own story to tell. ‘Imprese letterarie’ (‘Literary business’), a collection of essays edited by Alessandro Cinquegrani and published in the Studi e Ricerche series by Ca’ Foscari, revolves around this set of concepts. It is not necessarily an easy read, but it is certainly a useful one.

‘The title is deliberately ambiguous,’ explains the editor at the beginning of the work. ‘Everything is centred on the meaning of the word “imprese” [“business”]’. According to the first definition in the Treccani dictionary, it “generally refers to actions, either individual or collective, of a certain importance and difficulty.” These actions may be focused on the creation of a literary work, as the adjective [in the title] suggests, but can also be to an economic end. Both require a great investment of energy and time, and both benefit society and individuals.’ The inspiration for this collection of research, however, is found elsewhere, because ‘”Imprese letterarie” is a work that should also be read from a different perspective, and is an attempt to come up with a new approach to doing business, an approach that takes into account the potential contributions that literature can make.’

And that is the true meaning of this series of investigations into the parallels between business in the economic sense and literary business, and into the way these two approaches to doing business are interwoven.

The six essays that Cinquegrani has put together in this collection thus each address one aspect of this interweaving. Indeed, the links between business and literature constitute the subject of the first investigation, and this is followed by two more in-depth studies; the first of these focuses on the relationship between business and personal myth, and the second on the role of generations and the way in which this is linked to the life of businesses. Subsequently, two other essays look at the various ways in which we can tell the story of doing business, and the specifics of the business story in Italy. Furthermore, special attention is paid to the concept (and the practical realisation) of a ‘meaningful business’, which in this instance refers to a business that ‘creates a large amount of value for customers and for society’, and that, by ‘creating this meaningful value, focuses on the most effective ways to distribute most of it, because it believes that the real solution is to multiply this value. This drives a virtuous circle that leads to even more value being created for customers and for society. In this sense, a “meaningful” business is just that; a creator of new jobs that are closely linked to the exclusive area in which it operates, but also a creator of new concepts that are not restricted by the local area, and that are communicated to customers and society through its products, processes and the way in which it relates to others.’

As mentioned above, this collection of essays edited by Alessandro Cinquegrani is certainly not always an easy read, and it may also contain passages that not everyone will agree with, but despite this, it is a useful step in the journey towards building and curating a prudent and conscious business culture.

Imprese letterarie
Alessandro Cinquegrani (editor)
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Studi e Ricerche, 19, 2019

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A book discussing the meaning of knowledge and skills in business and in society

Learning, then doing. Not just theory, but theory and immediate practical application. Combining knowledge with experience is established as a good thing, and yet it is still far from widespread practice in concrete applications. This applies to all areas in which training and learning have – or should have – some form of impact on operations. In the broadest sense, then, it is a matter of culture. This issue applies to many areas of society, including those most closely focused on manufacturing, among others.

Pietro Fiorentino reflects upon these themes in his work La fabbrica delle competenze. Cultura ed esperienza per far ripartire la crescita (‘The skills factory: culture and experience as a driver for new growth’), published a few weeks ago.

The author deals with a complex theme which has a host of implications. At the beginning, he offers the following explanation: ‘If learning is at the heart of manufacturing activities, skill is the result of these activities, honed in an imaginary “factory” where the raw material par excellence, grey matter, is transformed during production/learning, thanks to the fusion of knowledge and experience.’ The manufacture of learning is a long journey, and one which eventually leads to the development of skill, and thus to opportunities for development and growth for individuals and the systems within which they operate. This journey, as Fiorentino explains, is made up of many different milestones, each of which helps build of our skills, from imaginative play with a range of stimuli at a tender age, through to school and university education, which guides us and combines with our first youthful impulses, then onto the world of work, which is responsible for producing the majority of these skills, and which has an effect on our relationships, and finally to the innovation that now defines our every-day actions.

The core of all of this is both fascinating and disturbing; the quest for a complete education is much more complex today than it was in the past, and it is a quest that never ends. But connecting knowledge and skills is one of the biggest challenges that we face in the future.

Accordingly, Fiorentino guides the reader through a series of in-depth studies that begin with an analysis of the relationship between knowledge and practice (with a particular focus on the situation in Italy), before moving on to look at the nature and role of leaders, after which he turns his attention to the future that awaits Italy, outlining a potential strategy (involving training) that could lead to the creation of a new and different ‘ruling class’ with the capacity to act on several levels, and to restore development and growth to the country.

Pietro Fiorentino’s book must be read carefully; it is not an easy story, but it gives shape to a collection of theories that can enable us to better understand what really needs to be done.

It also includes a great quote from Leonardo da Vinci at the beginning: ‘Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.’

La fabbrica delle competenze. Cultura ed esperienza per far ripartire la crescita
Pietro Fiorentino
LUISS University Press, 2019

A million jobs. This time, it isn’t a case of promises made as part of political election propaganda. The figure is a real one, which serves to quantify the number of job opportunities offered by Italian companies in the first quarter of this year. Over 1.1 million, to be precise. But there’s a problem: 30.6% of these job offers may not be filled, due to a lack of adequate professional profiles. To put it in absolute numbers rather than percentages, this equates to 355,000 vacancies. This figure represents a real mismatch between supply and demand, and appeared on the front page of daily newspaper Il Sole24Ore on Sunday, 2 February. Bringing more information to the table than before, the paper reiterates the profound imbalances within the Italian labour market (something we have discussed a number of times in the pages of this blog), made even more serious by the fact that the current very slow growth of our economy is causing a drop in employment and an increase in unemployment, and in the number of individuals who have stopped actively looking for a job (as evidenced by recent Istat data). This is the true paradox we’re witnessing: the qualified positions offered by companies remain unfilled in around one third of cases, while the difficulties experienced by those working in business areas that are in crisis, or by those vainly seeking employment, are on the increase.

In order to deal with this phenomenon, we need forward-looking government decisions on industrial policy, innovation, training and improving relations between the world of education and that of business. But for too long, there has been very little movement on these issues. And in government circles, the topics that are unfortunately still centre-stage (even in the period of transition from the Five Star-Lega alliance to the Five Star-Democratic Party alliance) are those relating to the ‘citizens’ income’ (a disaster from the point of view of the costs for the public coffers and the stimulus to look for work, as predicted well before the launch of this controversial measure in a number of authoritative economic circles and across the entire business world, especially among the Northern industrial associations) and the ‘100 quota’ for retirement (once again, a clear failure because of the assumption that pensioners would be replaced by young people).

Short-sighted policy is faltering, and the gap between real needs and opportunities for work and the future remains. The new generations are suffering the effects, along with the potential for balanced growth throughout the country.

If we take a closer look at the data collected by Unioncamere with regard to the aforementioned mismatch, we discover that young people are most affected, with peaks of 65% between the jobs offered and the opportunities taken up with regard to specialists in computer science, chemistry and physics; meanwhile, technical specialists, graduates and those from the higher technical institutes are almost impossible to find, despite the great need of mechanical, mechatronic, chemical and also textile and fashion companies. Data scientists and data analysts are also thin on the ground, along with engineers with digital training and workers who specialise in all the new professional tasks related to ‘Industry 4.0’ and the transformation of the digital economy.

The alarm signal regarding the lack of professional figures with the capacity to contribute to the transformation of manufacturing and to the most innovative technological challenges we face – and thus the alarm signal regarding the true crisis of competitiveness blighting large sectors of our economy – is increasingly evident in Lombardy, the north-east of the country, Emilia-Romagna and also in those parts of Southern Italy where, despite the uphill struggle, there are companies that are hanging on in the high-tech manufacturing and service sectors. And unfortunately, there are no significant new developments that could narrow the gap.

‘The areas of manufacturing that are most affected’, explains Chiara Manfredda, head of the training system and human resources department of Assolombarda, to Il Sole24Ore, ‘are primarily those related to industrial automation processes in manufacturing and those in the ICT sector, with particular reference to the production and management of big data. In addition to providing guidance, therefore, we must also make young people aware of these areas of study and, more generally, of the STEM disciplines that the country system needs so much.’

STEM, as our readers know, is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, precisely the subjects connected with the most advanced technological innovation. In Italy, only 1.4% of young people between 20 and 29 graduate with degrees in these subjects, compared to 3.6% in Germany and 3.8% in the United Kingdom. These areas of study, therefore, need to be promoted and given a new lease of life, with guidance provided from high school onwards (companies have long declared themselves ready to contribute as much as they can to campaigns targeting these issues).

In consideration of the specific features of Italian industry, which is characterised by certain aspects of creativity, attitudes towards beauty, quality and design, Assolombarda has been working with a slightly modified acronym for some time: STEAM instead of just STEM. The ‘A’ representing the arts, i.e. that sum of humanist knowledge which, when combined in harmonious and original ways with scientific knowledge, can ensure that ‘Made in Italy’ has a distinctive and competitive character, a strong value with a polytechnic culture and a genuine ‘industrial humanism’. A challenge in terms of culture and training in this case too. A lot of work will need to be done in order for the political world and the government to finally realise this, and take responsibility.

A bright future for the EU and the euro. And the prospect of a more sustainable approach to development, which can address the major issues of environmental risk and social inequality. The green economy is an essential cornerstone of the paradigm shift needed to relaunch the market economy and, more generally, to safeguard liberal democracy. And indeed, in the first few weeks of the 2020s, the themes of the great transformation and the Green New Deal can be found at the heart of the heated and original debates taking place during the traditional events and at the locations frequented by the world’s elite: the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Basilica of the Franciscan friars for the Assisi manifesto (inspired by Pope Francis‘ encyclical, ‘Laudato si”), the offices of the European Commission in Brussels and the ECB in Frankfurt (dedicated to tackling the so-called ‘green swan’ climate events that upset the markets), the bastions of big finance such as the BlackRock investment fund in New York and the factories of small and medium Italian companies in the ‘new industrial triangle’ that lies between Lombardy, the North-East and Emilia-Romagna, the lecture halls of prestigious universities in the USA and Europe, and the city squares crowded with the environmental movements whose mascot is Greta Thunberg.

In a difficult world, everything is overshadowed by tensions, poverty, social resentments and political rifts. And in an era that is defined by the connections between the environment, Artificial Intelligence and globalisation, we must rethink everything. This is a world undergoing radical change. A world in crisis, you might say, with the word ‘crisis’ taking on a dual meaning, of both danger and opportunity.

In order to gain a better understanding of the current situation, we can rely on the words of Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and long-time critic of the euro: ‘The Green New Deal can save the single currency and above all help Italy, because it will require enormous levels of investment, which in turn will necessitate greater budgetary flexibility, finally allowing the stimuli for growth that Italy most of all has needed for years,’ he told La Stampa (23 January). ‘A massive turning point,’ he concludes, with ‘a reform of the policies adopted by Brussels so far.’ Why? ‘In order to achieve the new environmental objectives which are increasingly necessary from the point of view of the survival of our planet, we will need billions of euros, if not a few trillion. It is a choice that makes a great deal of sense, not only because it aims to clean up the environment and combat climate change, but also because it promises to build a new economy.’

In our times, schematic, ideological decisions regarding austerity, so favoured by both political circles and public opinion in Northern Europe, are finally losing their credibility, as they have failed to tackle the environmental and social crises that have arisen. The conditions are now in place for a change in EU policy, relaunching investments in sustainable economic growth and development, which Stiglitz also refers to as ‘the best remedy against the emergence of populism and sovereignty.’ Public investments, both at the EU and national level, and private investments, in the environment and in order to protect the land. But also in training. And in the reforms required in order to make full use of the opportunities offered by the digital economy and Artificial Intelligence, which represent an extraordinary turning point in the relationship between young people and work. Not the current public spending, which is unproductive at best, but rather a major programme that sees governments and businesses acting together. Businesses that demonstrate an extraordinary sensitivity to the issues surrounding sustainable development and to promoting a form of capitalism that is rich in values focused on the needs of stakeholders (consumers, employees, suppliers, citizens of the local communities), and no longer exclusively centred on shareholders, stakeholders and financial investors.

These are the very themes that resonated in Davos, even when they appeared through the utopian image of ‘planting a trillion trees’ so dear to Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, so ripe for being co-opted for propaganda that it was immediately copied by Donald Trump. And indeed, there will be an attempt at green-washing by opportunistic companies and political circles. But environmentalist inspiration is increasingly well-founded and sincere, especially in the younger generations, as well as among educated and responsible consumers. And it calls for more information, along with logical choices that take a long-term view.

These are the very values contained within the Assisi manifesto, signed by Symbola, the Franciscan Friars and a long list of figures from the worlds of business, economics, culture and from numerous social organisations, and presented with a major public debate in the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi on Friday 24 January (we discussed this at length in last week’s blog): ‘A sustainable and humane economy’, which also considers social issues, with an awareness that ‘our green economy makes our companies more competitive and creates jobs, by drawing upon an approach to production (the roots of which often go back centuries) linked to quality, beauty, efficiency and the history of cities and regions. This approach focuses on social cohesion as a factor of production, and combines empathy and technology.’

‘Capitalism is being put to the test within the context of the global village,’ summarises Gianmario Verona, economist and rector of Bocconi University (La Stampa, 26th January). He goes on to remind us that ‘the leaders of investment banks, Larry Fink of BlackRock first and foremost, are placing the emphasis on investments related to the environment, social impact and good governance (hence the acronym ESG)’ and ‘in light of their influential role in the economic system and the ever-increasing number of declarations on these issues, they represent perhaps the most immediate driver for making structural changes to the way in which finance and capitalism are understood today.’

Verona adds: ‘The digital revolution is doing its bit, connecting citizens and raising awareness, pushing universities to come down out of their ivory towers and bringing new leaders to the fore, regardless of whether or not they answer to the name of Greta Thunberg.’ Political and economic ideas and choices. Circular and civil economy projects. A world that is moving in a positive direction, and in which the EU regains a solid central position.

148 years have gone by since 28 January 1872 when, in the presence of the Milanese notary public Stefano Allocchio, the twenty-three-year-old engineer Giovanni Battista Pirelli signed the Articles of Association of the first Italian company to manufacture items in rubber. This marked the birth of Pirelli in Milan, during an Industrial Revolution that was leading Italy towards the twentieth century and, for this all-Italian company, that was opening up a world of internationalisation.

And indeed, the first Pirelli factory abroad was opened in Spain in 1902. Then came England, a few years later, by the sea in Southampton. Now it was time for the “great leap” over the ocean, towards the Americas and the opportunities they promised. Pirelli y C.ia – Sucursal Argentina opened in Buenos Aires on 1 January 1911: the great success that Italian rubber had enjoyed just a few months before the International Exhibition of Railways and Land Transport, which had been held in the city to celebrate the Centenary of the Argentine Republic, had prompted the Pirelli Group to open a commercial branch in South America. A few years later, in 1917, production work got under way.

Today, with the publication of the Pàginas Pirelli house organ of Pirelli Argentina, which was launched in 1955, we are also celebrating the one hundred and forty-eighth birthday of the Group. When Pàginas Pirelli magazine was first published, just five years after the Italian house organ Fatti e Notizie, the Argentine subsidiary was expanding at its fastest rate. Already firmly established in the rubber cable and products sector, with two Pirelli Saic-Sociedad Anonima Industrial y Comercial factories in the Buenos Aires area, Pirelli Argentina was also starting up local production of tyres. In 1951, Coplan-Compañia Platense de Naumàticos, a joint venture with the American U.S. Rubber, made its first tyre at the plant in Merlo, 30 kilometres from Buenos Aires.

In 1968 Coplan was taken over in its entirety by Saic, and the Cinturato tyre went into production in South America: it was no coincidence that one of the banners chosen in 1968 by the designer Pino Tovaglia for the Pirelli Cinturato advertising campaign bore the colours of the Argentine flag, together with the slogan: “en Argentina se dice Cinturato”.

Leafing through the pages of this magazine recalls the image of a company – Pirelli – that was well aware of its global reach: between the lines and in the illustrations in Pàginas we find a “piece of Italy” across the ocean. One that is still part of a company that is Milanese and, at the same time, international. Now celebrating its 148th year.