Working with the best, even if they are not part of the company. Our Open Innovation model is not only driving the Group’s growth, it has also been recognised as a benchmark for innovation in Europe and throughout the world. In recent days Enel has been included in the list of 100 digital pioneers of the future compiled by the Financial Times’ Europe’s Road to Growth report. With support from Google, Britain’s prestigious business and economics daily has selected the companies and people who are leading European growth in a range of sectors, grouping them into five categories. Our Group has been included in “Corporate digital transformations,” together with another 16 European companies, including France’s Airbus, Britain’s Vodafone, Germany’s Siemens and Spain’s Telefónica. The 100 digital pioneers were the subject of celebrations in Brussels on 21 November during an event that also saw the participation of Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society. Representing Enel was Francesco Fusco Girard, Head of Strategy and Managerial Analysis.
The following day in Brussels our Group received two more significant accolades, this time for our relationship with startups. During the SEP Europe’s Corporate Startup Stars conference organised by the Startup Europe Partnership platform on behalf of the European Commission, we were named as one of the Top 12 Corporate Startup Stars, a list recognising the companies that are most active in Open Innovation on an international level. Our Group also received the Corporate Startup Procurement Award for its ongoing commitment to creating value-based relationships with the most promising companies and organisations in the sector.
“We are proud to have made such an important contribution to creating an eco-system of sustainable innovation. It’s something we care for passionately, and we’re constantly seeking to help it grow and nurture it through new challenges. This is the only way our Open Innovability initiative can bear fruit,” said our Group’s Chief Innovability Officer Ernesto Ciorra, who accepted the awards. Last December the Enel model also won an award at the World Open Innovation Conference at the University of Berkeley, California, one of the world’s most important events in this field.
The Corporate Startup Stars awards, being held for the third time, were created by Mind the Bridge, global leader in consultancy services for innovation, and the Nesta Foundation. The Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), established by the European Commission in January 2014 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, is the first pan-European Open Innovation platform specialising in transforming European startups into scaleups. The keynote speech at the Brussels event was given by Jyrki Tapani Katainen, European Commission vice-president for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness.
Enel’s own brand of innovation that helps business shift towards a model of sustainability and the creation of shared value received another prestigious award on 1 November in London from the London Business School: the Real Innovation Award People’s Choice, an acknowledgement of “true innovation,” which the organisers define as always being disruptive and revolutionary.