Innovation as a human environment. An open ecosystem that involves every element of a company and a varied community of players, from start-ups to large industrial partners, from universities to research centers, and from suppliers to customers. Enel was invited to present its approach to innovation before an audience of representatives of large companies from different sectors, at the Annual Front End of Innovation Summit, recently held in Berlin. The Open Innovation model is based on a paradigm of openness “from and toward the outside”.
'Open Innovation, the approach to innovation that Enel has embraced, has already proven to offer potential for unprecedented development in other industrial sectors,' declared Carlo Napoli, Head of Open Innovation Culture and Environment, on the sidelines of the Berlin event. 'At Enel we believe that it is the right path. This is why we have arranged to follow it as best as possible, with a structure that is able to effectively interact with a broad and varied ecosystem of innovation in terms of skills, interests, priorities and language.' An open scenario, ranging from start-ups to large companies, from universities and research centres to projects by individual innovators. 'It doesn't matter how big the organisation with which we choose to work together is: the only thing that counts is the quality of the project that is being proposed,' Napoli continued.
In order to reach these objectives, the Enel Group's new organisation will feature the new Innovation and Sustainability function headed by Ernesto Ciorra. 'It's no coincidence that innovation and sustainability are part of the same unit, because the former aims towards the latter, which is in turn a precondition of the former,' Ciorra explained. The director warned that in today's global market, 'innovation no longer means simply taking a leap forward, it is the only way of guaranteeing ones continued existance. The leadership we have developed in this field must be cultivated day by day. You have to work every day, and forget what you have already achieved: innovation is not enough, you have to be the best to be truly innovatory'.